TEXT  BY 

MARIA  HORNOR 
LANS  DALE 

I  PICTURES  BY 

JULES  GUERIN 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2018  with  funding  from 
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https://archive.org/details/chateauxoftouraiOOIans_O 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


THE  CHATEAUX 

OF 

TOURAINE 


BY 

MARIA  HORNOR  LANSDALE 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  PICTURES  BY 


JULES  GUERIN 

AND  BY  PHOTOGRAPHS 


NEW  YORK 
THE  CENTURY  CO. 
1906 


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Copyright  1905,  1906,  by 
The  Century  Co. 

Published  October,  igo6 


THE  OE  VINNE  PRESS 


THE  J.  PAUL  GETTY  MUSEUM  LIBRARY 


TO 

E.  M.  L. 
M.  T.  B.  L. 

AND 

c.  w. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 
TOURS 

Origin  and  Development  of  the  Chateaux — Saint  Martin — His  Early 
History — Becomes  Bishop  of  Csesarodunum  (Tours) — His  Death 
— Pilgrimages  to  His  Tomb— Basilica  of  St.  Martin — Chateauneuf 
— Ancient  Buildings — Xlllth  Century  Customs— House  of  Tris¬ 
tan  l’Hermite — Hotel  Gouin — Fountain  in  the  Grand  Marche— 
Development  of  the  Two  Towns— Tours — The  Cathedral  of  St. 
Gatien — Tomb  of  the  Children  of  Charles  VIII — The  Cloister — 

The  Archeveche — The  Archbishops  of  the  Middle  Ages — Cere¬ 
mony  of  an  Institution — View  from  the  South  Tower  of  the 
Cathedral  . I. 


CHAPTER  II 
TOURS  (Continued) 

Saint  Martin’s  House  at  Tours— Marmoutier  founded— Urban  II 
preaches  the  First  Crusade— The  “Portail  de  la  Crosse”— Later 
History  of  Marmoutier — The  Bridge  of  St.  Symphorien— The 
Tour  de  Guise — Escape  of  the  Duke  of  Guise — Rule  of  Henry  II, 
Plantagenet,  in  Touraine — Misery  in  Tours  during  the  English 
Wars — Archibald,  Earl  of  Douglas  created  Duke  of  Touraine — 

The  old  Chateau  Royal  of  Tours— Marriage  of  the  Dauphin, 
Louis  XI,  and  Margaret  of  Scotland — Her  Unhappiness  and  Early 
Death — Louis  XI  builds  Plessis-les-Tours — Its  Position  in  the 
History  of  Architecture — Death  of  Louis  XI  — Philippe  de  Corn- 
mines — James  Cottier — Henry  III  at  Tours — His  Alliance  with 
Henry  of  Navarre — He  is  murdered  at  St.  Cloud — The  Abbey 
Church  of  St.  Julien  —  Suburb  and  Church  of  St.  Pierre  des  Corps 
— The  Story  of  Avisseau — The  Rue  Royale— The  Pont  de  Pierre 
—Birthplace  of  Balzac — The  Museum — The  Town  Library  .  .  29 

vii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  III 

LOCHES 

Position  of  Loches — The  Keep  of  Montbazon — The  Abbey  of  Beau¬ 
lieu — First  View  of  the  Chateau — M.  Cesar  and  his  Wonderful 
Discovery — The  Donjon  of  Fulk  Nerra — The  Tours-a-bec — Plan 
of  the  Citadel— The  Guard  Room  and  Bedsteads  of  the  Scottish 
Guard— The  Cell  of  Philippe  de  Commines — Present  Aspect  of  the 
Donjon — Interior  View — Oratory  of  Saint  Salle-boeuf — Fulk  Nerra 
— The  Struggle  for  Touraine — The  Battle  of  Pontlevoi  —  His  Pil¬ 
grimages  to  the  Holy  Land — His  Superstition  —  Policy — Death — 
His  Tomb  at  Beaulieu  —  Geoffrey  Martel — Fulk  le  Rechin — 
Machinations  of  Bertrade  de  Montfort — Marriage  of  Geoffrey 
Plantagenet  and  the  ex-Empress  Matilda — Sieges  and  Counter¬ 
sieges — John  Lackland  and  Philip  Augustus — The  Murder  of 
Arthur  of  Brittany — The  Campaign  of  1204-5 — The  Citadel  re¬ 
modeled —  The  Tour  Ronde — The  Torture  Chamber — “Cages”  — 
Cardinal  La  Balue — Philippe  de  Commines — His  Description  of 
the  Cage  of  Loches — A  “Relic  of  Despotism,”  it  is  destroyed  in 
the  Revolution  —  Prisoners  in  the  Tour  Ronde — View  from  the 
Summit — The  Dungeons  of  the  Martelet— The  Cell  of  Ludovico 
Sforza — Louis  Xllth’s  Claim  to  the  Duchy  of  Milan — “Monsieur 
Ludovico” — The  “Cell  of  the  Bishops” — Conspiracy  of  the  Con¬ 
stable  de  Bourbon — Trial  of  Jean  de  Poitiers — “Le  Roi  s’Amuse” 
“Oubliettes” — Dungeons  of  the  Middle  Ages — A  Strange  Dis¬ 
covery  . 


CHAPTER  IV 
LOCHES  (Continued ) 

The  Collegiate  Church  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene  — Geoffrey  Grisego- 
nelle  — Foundation  of  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame  du  Chateau  de 
Loches — The  Girdle  of  the  Virgin  —  Privileges  enjoyed  by  the 
Chapter — “No  Archbishops!”  —  Date  of  the  Present  Building — 
Peculiarities  of  Design — The  Parish  Church  of  St.  Ours — The 
Royal  Chateau  —  Change  in  the  Domestic  Architecture  of  France 
— Charles  VII  builds  the  Tour  Agnes  Sorel—  An  Anecdote  told  by 
Bernard  du  Haillon  and  its  Consequences — The  Quatrain  of  Fran¬ 
cis  I — First  Meeting  between  Agnes  Sorel  and  the  King — The 
Treaty  of  Arras — The  King’s  New  Counsellors — The  Expedition 


PAGE 


CONTENTS 

to  Normandy— Influence  of  the  “Belle  des  Belles”— Her  Char¬ 
acter,  Beauty  and  Extravagance — “Dame  de  Beaute” — Her  Death 
— Relations  between  the  Favorite  and  the  Dauphin — Her  Tomb 
in  the  Collegiate  Church— The  “New  Rooms”  of  the  Chateau — 
Charlotte  of  Savoy — Additions  of  Louis  XII — Bedchamber  and 
Oratory  of  Anne  of  Brittany — Her  Device — The  Chancelleries — 

The  Tour  St.  Antoine — The  Horse-chestnut  Tree  of  Francis  I — 
James  V  at  Loches — The  Huguenots — “Setting  on  the  Hounds” 
—The  Revolution  at  Loches . 87 


CHAPTER  V 
CHINON 

Roman  and  Visigoth — The  Siege  of  463 — Saint  Mesme — Thibaud 
the  Cheat — His  Castle  at  Chinon — Imprisonment  of  the  “Bearded 
Count”  of  Anjou — Henry  Plantagenet — Eleanor  of  Aquitaine — 

Her  Numerous  Suitors — The  Count  of  Anjou  Wins — “Les  Plan- 
tagenets  avaient  tons  les  bonheurs” — The  Murder  of  Thomas 
Becket — King  Henry  and  Philip  Augustus— The  Meeting  at  Bon 
Moulins — Father  and  Son — Reverses — The  Conference  at  Colom- 
biers— The  “Kiss  of  Peace” — “Your  Son,  Count  John” — Death 
of  Henry  II  at  Chinon — Richard  the  Lion-hearted,  Philip  Augus¬ 
tus  and  John  Lackland— Suppression  of  the  Knights  Templars— 

The  Donjon  de  Coudray— Philip  of  Valois — The  French  Succes¬ 
sion— The  Hundred-Years  War—  Crecy  and  Poitiers— King  John 
the  Good  taken  Prisoner — Quarrel  between  the  Houses  of  Bur¬ 
gundy  and  Orleans— The  Disaster  of  Azincourt — Armagnacs  and 
Burgundians — Misery  of  the  Country — The  Meeting  on  the  Bridge 
of  Montereau — The  “Hole  through  which  the  English  entered 
France” — The  “Self-styled”  Dauphin — The  Deaths  of  the  Kings 
— Le  Roi  de  Bourges — The  Favorites — Georges  de  la  Tremoille 
— Advance  of  the  English — The  Battle  of  Verneuil — The  Siege  of 
Orleans — The  Peasant-Maid  of  Domremy — Voices — The  Ride  to 
Chinon — Is  this  the  Maid? — The  Interview  with  the  King — “I  have 
a  Sign” — A  Brilliant  Campaign — Prisoner  of  War — Deserted — 

The  Trial  and  Condemnation — A  National  Crime — The  Rehabilita¬ 
tion — Results  of  the  Campaign — Chinon  of  To-day — The 
Chateau— The  Grand’Salle— The  Chapel  of  St.  Martin— The 
Downfall  of  a  Favorite — Agnes  Sorel  again — The  Church  of  St. 
Etienne — The  Church  of  St.  Maurice — Le  Style  Plantagenet — A 
Duke  in  a  Cage — Rabelais — Reception  of  Caesar  Borgia — Property 
of  the  State— Day-dreams . 109 


IX 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  VI 
LANGEAIS 

PAGE 

The  Count  of  Anjou  and  the  Count  of  Blois — Fulk  Nerra’s  Keep — 
Langeais  passes  to  the  Crown — A  Fortunate  Chamberlain— Marie 
de  Brabant — An  Error  in  Judgment — Fall  of  De  la  Broce — The 
XVth  Century  Building — Plan  of  the  Chateau — The  Donjon  and 
Chemin  de  Ronde — View  from  the  Summit — The  Conspiracy  of 
Cinq-Mars — The  Little  Duchess  of  Brittany — A  Desirable  Partie 

—  Stormy  Wooings — The  Suitors — Maximilian  of  Austria — Alain 

d’Albret — The  Duke  of  Orleans — Charles  VIII — The  Wedding 
at  Langeais — The  Marriage  Contract — Brittany  united  to  the 
Crown— A  Successful  Restoration . 147 

CHAPTER  VII 
AMBOISE 

Early  History — The  “Illustrious  House  of  Amboise” — The  Family 
of  Orleans — Notre  Dame  du  Bout-des-Ponts — The  Bridges — 
Buildings  of  the  Chateau — The  Chapel  of  St.  Hubert — Tomb  of 
Leonardo  da  Vinci — Louis  XI  and  the  Dauphin  — The  Buildings 
of  Charles  VIII — The  Logis  du  Roi — The  Tour  des  Minimes  and 
the  Tour  Heurtault — The  Expedition  into  Italy — The  Conquest  of 
Naples — Reverses — Death  of  the  Dauphin — Ill-timed  Gaiety  of 
the  Duke  of  Orleans — The  Death  of  Charles  VIII — The  Marriage 
Contract  of  Langeais — Divorce  of  Jeanne  of  France — Marriage 
of  Louis  XII  and  Anne  of  Brittany — Additions  to  the  Chateau — 

The  First  Orange  Trees  in  France — Francis  I  at  Amboise — 
Henry  II  and  Diane  of  Poitiers — Power  of  the  Guises — The  Re- 
naudie  Conspiracy — The  “Silent  Captain” — The  Court  of  Amboise 

—  Failure  of  the  Plot — Triumph  of  the  Guises — Huguenot  Mas¬ 
sacres — An  “Act  of  Faith” — Dieu  nous  soit  doux  et  favorable 
— The  Last  Salute — Civil  War — The  “Edict  of  Amboise” — 
Prisoners  of  State — La  Fontaine’s  Visit  to  Amboise — Vandalism 

of  Roger  Ducos — The  Orleans  Family — Abd-el-Kader  ....  169 


CHAPTER  VIII 
BLOIS 

The  Original  Fortress — The  First  Orleans  Count  of  Blois — Rivalry 
with  the  Duke  of  Burgundy — The  Murder  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans 


X 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

—Valentine  Visconti— The  Poet-Prince  of  Orleans— The  Chateau 
—The  Grand’Salle— The  Wing  of  Louis  XII— Mansard’s  Wing— 

The  Wing  of  Francis  I — The  Staircase  of  Blois — Louis  XII  and 
Anne  of  Brittany — Marriage  of  the  Princess  Claude — Death  of 
the  Queen — Court  Mourning — Marriage  of  Louis  XII  and  Mary 
Tudor — “Good  King  Louis  is  Dead!” — Francis  I  of  Angouleme — 
Origin  of  the  House  of  Guise— Duke  Francis  and  Cardinal  Lor¬ 
raine — Henry  the  King  and  Henry  the  Duke — The  Court  at  Blois 
—  “The  King  is  Coming!” — Murder  of  the  Duke  of  Guise — Death 
of  Catherine  de  Medicis — Murder  of  Cardinal  Guise — Assassina¬ 
tion  of  Henry  III — Henry  of  Navarre — The  Regency  of  Marie  de 
Medicis — Louis  XIII  and  Charles  d’Albert  of  Luynes — Concino 
Concini — Murder  of  the  Favorite — The  Queen-mother  exiled  to 
Blois — The  Escape — Last  Years  of  Marie  de  Medicis — Gaston  of 
Orleans  at  Blois— Restoration  of  the  Chateau— The  Town  of  Blois  201 


CHAPTER  IX 
LUYNES 

Charles  d’Albert,  First  Duke  of  Luynes — The  Chateau  of  Maille — 
Cave  Dwellings  along  the  Loire — A  Fete  Day  at  Luynes— Saint 
Genevieve— The  Manor  of  St.  Venant  and  the  Aqueduct — The 
Chapel  of  St.  Sepulchre — The  Marriage  of  the  Third  Duke  of 
Luynes — The  Passing  of  the  Feudal  Chateau . 245 


CHAPTER  X 

CHENONCEAUX 

A  Brilliant  Example  of  the  French  Renaissance — The  Family  of 
Marques — Thomas  Bohier  and  Katherine  Brigonnet — The  Cardinal 
of  St.  Malo — Chenonceaux  passes  to  the  Crown — The  River  Cher 
— The  Chateau — The  Cabinet  Vert — Diane  of  Poitiers — The 
Ownership  of  Chenonceaux — Legal  Quibbles — The  Favorite  In¬ 
stalled — The  Gardens — The  Bridge  across  the  Cher — Death  of 
Henry  II — Catherine  de  Medicis — An  Unpopular  Marriage — 
Power  at  Last — The  Favorite  Dispossessed — Additions  to  the 
Chateau— Entry  of  Francis  II  and  Mary  Stuart — The  Prince  of 
Conde  and  the  Duke  of  Guise — A  Brilliant  Fete — The  “Flying 
Squadron” — Henry  III  at  Chenonceaux — La  Reine  Blanche — 
Assassination  of  the  King — A  New  Order  of  Things — Gabrielle 

xi 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


d’Estrees — Cesar,  Duke  of  Vendome — The  Chalais  Conspiracy — 
Changes  in  Ownership  — Present  State  of  Chenonceaux  ....  257 


CHAPTER  XI 
AZAY-LE-RIDEAU 

The  Chateau — A  Burgundian  Garrison — “Little  Paris  Pates!” — 
Azay-le-Brule — The  Town  Walls — Growth  of  the  Commune — 
Gilles  Bertholet,  the  Builder  of  the  Chateau — The  Semblenqay  Ad¬ 
ministration — Historic  Rooms— The  Church .  ...  291 


CHAPTER  XII 

CHAUMONT 

The  “Garenne  de  la  Comtesse” — Sulpice  II  of  Amboise — Pierre 
d’Amboise  joins  the  League  du  Bicu  Public  and  loses  Chaumont — 
Charles  d’Amboise — The  New  Chateau — The  Courtyard  —  Cardinal 
d’Amboise — “Laissez  faire  a  Georges” — Catherine  de  Medicis 
buys  Chaumont — The  Astrologer  Ruggieri  — A  Strange  Experience 
—  Chaumont  and  Chenonceaux — A  Succession  of  Owners — Le- 
Ray-Chaumont  and  his  Terra-Cotta  Works — A  Distinguished 
Visitor — Mme.  de  Stael  at  Fosse — Vicomte  Walsh  —  Present  Aspect 
of  the  Chateau . 307 


CHAPTER  XIII 
CHAMBORD  AND  CHEVERNEY 

Character  of  the  Country— A  Midnight  Adventure— The  Chateau  of 
Francis  I — The  Park — Plan  of  the  Chateau— The  Guard  Room — 

The  Double  Stair— The  Roofs — Francis  I  at  Chambord — Gaston 
of  Orleans— The  Grande  Mademoiselle — Louis  XIV  at  Chambord 
—  Moliere  and  the  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme — Mme.  de  Maintenon — 

An  Exiled  King — Marshal  Saxe — Two  more  Years  of  Revelry 
— Abandonment  and  Neglect — The  Nation’s  Gift — Paul  Louis 
Courier's  Protest — The  Revolution  of  July — The  Count  of  Cham¬ 
bord — His  Letter  to  the  French  People — Present  State  of  the 
Chateau  — Cheverney— The  Family  of  Hurault— A  Peaceful 
Memory . 329 

xii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Chateau  of  Chinon . Frontispiece 

Tour  du  Moulin  and  Chateau  de  Coudray  at  left,  Chateau  du  Milieu 
beyond. 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

PAGE 


Cathedral  of  Tours .  5 

From  a  photograph. 

The  Tour  Charlemagne,  belonging  to  the  ancient  basilica  of  St. 

Martin  of  Tours . 12 

From  a  photograph. 

House  of  Tristan  the  Hermit,  Louis  XI’s  hangman . 17 


From  a  photograph. 

Tomb  of  the  children  of  Charles  VIII  and  Anne  of  Brittany  .  .  23 


From  a  photograph. 

Portal  of  the  Cross,  Abbey  of  Marmoutier . .  .  34 

From  a  photograph. 

Facade  of  Chateau  of  Plessis-les-Tours  . .  .  39 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Plessis-les-Tours . .  .  45 

From  a  photograph. 


View  of  Tours  Cathedral,  stone  bridge  across  the  Loire  ...  51 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Loches :  the  wall  of  enceinte  and  top  of  Tour  Ronde  .  60 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chateau  of  Loches :  the  Renaissance  buildings,  seen  from  the 

town  . 65 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Tours-a-bec,  with  top  of  Fulk  Nerra’s  donjon,  at  Loches  ...  72 

From  a  photograph. 

Tours-a-bec,  Fulk  Nerra’s  donjon,  and  Tour  Ronde  or  Tour 

Louis  XI . .  .  77 

From  a  photograph. 

xiii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The  cell  of  Ludovico  Sforza . 83 

From  a  photograph. 

The  Collegiate  Church  of  St.  Ours . 90 

From  a  photograph. 

Guard  house,  donjon,  and  Tour  Ronde  or  Tour  Louis  XI  ...  94 

From  a  photograph. 

Tower  of  Agnes  Sorel . 99 

From  a  photograph. 

Loches:  the  Chateau  and  the  Collegiate  Church  of  St.  Ours  .  .  105 

From  a  photograph. 

Entrance  gate  to  Chateau  of  Chinon  built  by  Henry  Plantagenet  124 
From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  and  town  of  Chinon,  with  bridge  across  the  Vienne  .  .  133 

From  a  photograph. 

Ruin  of  the  Grand’Salle,  where  Jeanne  d'Arc  first  met  Charles  VII  140 

From  a  photograph. 

Approach  to  the  gate  of  the  Chateau  of  Langeais . 154 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

View  of  Chateau  of  Langeais  from  the  court-yard  ...  .  157 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Langeais,  drawbridge . 164 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Langeais:  view  from  the  court . 167 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chateau  and  town  of  Amboise,  as  seen  from  the  opposite  bank 

of  the  Loire . 174 

From  a  photograph. 

Portal  of  Chapel  of  St.  Hubert . 180 

From  a  photograph. 

Chapel  of  St.  Hubert  and  Tour  Heurtault . 183 

From  a  photograph. 

Tour  Minimes  and  wing  of  Louis  XII,  Amboise . 190 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Amboise,  Chapel  of  St.  Hubert  and  Tour  Heurtault  193 
From  a  photograph. 


XIV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Chateau  of  Amboise:  view  from  the  bridge  over  the  Loire  .  .197 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Entrance  to  the  Chateau  of  Blois  (facade  of  Louis  XII)  .  .  .  204 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Grand  staircase  of  Francis  I . 208 

From  a  photograph. 

Wing  of  Francis  I,  Blois . 217 

From  a  photograph. 

Entrance  through  wing  of  Louis  XII,  Blois . 222 

From  a  photograph. 

Court  of  the  Chateau  of  Blois . 227 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Blois,  wing  of  Francis  I,  showing  window  from  which 
Marie  de  Medicis  escaped,  the  Tour  du  Moulin  and  end  of 

wing  of  Gaston  of  Orleans . 234 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Blois,  viewed  from  a  street  of  the  town  :  wing  of  Fran¬ 
cis  I  on  the  left . 23 7 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chateau  of  Blois:  wing  of  Louis  XII,  exterior  facade  .  .  .  .241 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Luynes,  showing  part  of  the  feudal  buildings  of  the 

XVth  century  . 249 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chateau  of  Luynes . 253 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Chenonceaux :  principal  entrance . 260 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Chenonceaux,  showing  chapel  and  donjon  ....  265 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Chenonceaux,  looking  up-stream  from  the  right  bank 

of  the  Cher . 270 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chenonceaux,  showing  the  chapel  to  the  right,  viewed  from  the 

left  bank  of  the  Cher . 279 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 


XV 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Chateau  of  Chenonceaux,  with  gallery  across  the  Cher  ....  284 
From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Chenonceaux,  with  gallery  across  the  Cher — another 

view . .  ,  .  289 

From  a  photograph. 

Main  entrance  to  Chateau  of  Azay-le-Rideau . 294 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Azay-le-Rideau,  west  facade . 297 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Azay-le-Rideau:  showing  the  moat . 301 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Side  entrance  to  the  Chateau  of  Azay-le-Rideau . 304 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chateau  of  Chaumont:  entrance . 312 

From  a  photograph. 

Approach  to  the  Chateau  of  Chaumont:  the  Loire  at  the  left  .  316 
From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Chaumont,  view  from  court-yard . 319 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Chaumont :  view  from  the  right  bank  of  the  Loire  .  325 
Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Eastern  facade  of  the  Chateau  of  Chambord . 332 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chateau  of  Chambord,  faqade  facing  the  Cosson . 336 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Chambord,  lantern  and  summit  of  the  double  stair  .  339 
From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Cheverney :  from  the  garden . 343 

Drawn  by  Jules  Guerin. 

Chateau  of  Chambord :  La  Salle  des  Gardes . 348 

From  a  photograph. 

Chateau  of  Cheverney . 351 

From  a  photograph. 


XVI 


PREFACE 


The  marvellous  charm  of  the  Chateaux  of  Touraine  which, 
year  by  year,  casts  its  spell  over  pilgrims  from  every  quarter  of 
the  globe,  is  born  of  a  variety  of  causes.  Added  to  the  captivat¬ 
ing  beauty  of  these  ancient  buildings,  their  architectural  inter¬ 
est,  the  loveliness  of  the  surrounding  country  and  the  halo  of  his¬ 
torical  associations  in  which  each  is  enwrapped,  is  their  sur¬ 
prising  variance.  Thus  while  nine  of  the  twelve  chateaux  with 
which  this  book  has  to  do  are  actually  in  Touraine,  and  the 
remaining  three — Blois,  Chambord  and  Cheverney — in  the  ad¬ 
jacent  province  of  Orleanais,  no  two  of  them  are  alike,  and  the 
impression  left  upon  the  mind  by  each  is  distinct  and  individual. 

Chinon  in  ruins,  and  with  its  ringing  memories  of  the  great¬ 
est  of  the  Plantagenets  and  of  the  warrior  Pucelle,  has  nothing- 
in  common  with  near-by  Azay-le-Rideau,  where  all  is  complete, 
placid,  dainty.  Langeais  shows  us  the  feudal  castle  in  its 
prime,  armed  cap-a-pie  as  on  the  day  when  it  gave  shelter  to 
the  breathless  little  Bretonne  Duchess  riding  to  her  hurried 
nuptials  with  the  King  of  France.  At  Loches  can  be  traced 
the  entire  process  by  which  the  square  keep  of  the  early  feudal 
age  developed  into  the  Renaissance  chateau;  while  Chenon- 
ceaux  shows  us  that  Renaissance  chateau  in  its  completest, 
most  engaging  form. 

In  situation,  history,  ownership,  Plessis-les-Tours  is  as  far 
removed  from  Chaumont  or  Blois  as  Amboise  and  Luynes  are 

xvii 


PREFACE 


from  Cheverney.  While  Chambord,  that  fantastic  utterance  of 
a  society  in  decadence,  is  surely  unlike,  not  the  neighboring 
chateaux  alone,  but  anything  else  in  the  world. 

It  is  to  Chambord,  however,  that  all  the  others  lead.  From 
the  moment  when  the  nobles,  returning  from  their  southern 
campaign,  began  to  require  light  and  air  and  space  and  orna¬ 
ment,  a  change  becomes  apparent.  Hitherto  the  baron  had 
fared  in  such  matters  but  little  better  than  the  poorest  among 
his  dependents;  but  now,  in  proportion  as  the  dwellings  of  the 
rich  expanded,  those  of  the  poor  became  more  squalid;  and 
Louis  XIV,  riding  with  unseeing  eyes  past  the  miserable 
hovels  of  the  peasantry  to  find  Chambord  too  small,  is  but  a 
presage  of  the  French  Revolution. 


La  Mothe,  Artannes,  Touraine, 
Ascension  Day,  1906. 


M.  H.  L. 


THE 

chAteaux  oftouraine 


CHAPTER  I 

TOURS 

IN  primitive  times  when  forests  were  thick  and  roads  were 
few  and  bad,  the  rivers  of  a  sparsely  settled  country  formed 
its  readiest  means  of  intercommunication.  When  Gaul  was 
conquered  by  the  Romans,  about  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
era,  one  of  the  longest  of  these  natural  highways  was  the  river 
Loire,  which,  taking  its  rise  in  Languedoc,  flows  north  for  nearly 
two-thirds  of  its  length,  makes  a  sharp  bend  at  Orleans,  and 
thence  pursues  a  southwesterly  direction  to  the  sea,  through 
the  old  provinces  of  Orleanais  and  Touraine  and  Anjou.  In  its 
passage  through  Touraine  the  Loire  is  fed  by  no  fewer  than 
three  great  tributary  streams,  all  flowing  into  it  from  the 
south:  the  Cher,  the  Indre  and  the  Vienne. 

Through  this  fertile  district  the  Romans  built  a  system  of 
roads  following  often  the  lines  of  the  waterways  and  connecting 
the  centrally  placed  city  of  Csesarodunum,  now  called  Tours, 
with  the  more  distant  parts  of  Gaul.  The  roads  they  protected 
by  a  line  of  forts  or  castra  raised  wherever  some  rocky  height 
or  especially  bold  projection  afforded  a  good  position. 

3 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


It  is  in  these  Roman  castra,  themselves  often  occupying  the 
sites  of  still  earlier  Gaulish  strongholds,  that  many  of  the 
French  chateaux  have  their  origin.  As  Visigoth  succeeded  to 
Roman  and  Frank  to  Visigoth  these  strong  places  were  taken 
and  refortified,  each  forming  the  nucleus  in  those  uneasy  times 
about  which  a  little  settlement  grew  up.  With  the  increase  in 
power  of  the  feudal  barons  great  square  keeps  rose  upon  these 
sites  which,  however,  came  in  time  to  be  such  a  source  of  men¬ 
ace  that,  when  a  convenient  pretext  offered,  the  crown  either 
seized  them  outright  or  caused  them  to  be  razed  to  the  ground. 
Thus  of  the  twelve  chateaux  with  which  we  shall  have  to  do, 
Cheverney,  not  built  till  the  XVIth  century,  and  Luynes  are  the 
only  two  which  at  one  time  or  another  have  not  been  the  prop¬ 
erty  of  the  crown. 

Finally,  with  the  close  of  the  Hundred  Years  War,  and  the 
stamping  out  of  the  feudal  power  under  Louis  XI,  the  chateaux 
along  the  pleasant  banks  of  the  Loire,  the  Cher,  the  Indre  and 
the  Vienne,  lost  their  fortress-like  character  and  became  resi¬ 
dences  of  royalty  and  of  nobles  and  even  in  some  cases  of  the 
wealthy  bourgeoisie. 

It  is  in  this  latest  phase  that  we  see  them  to-day,  sometimes 
in  ruins,  sometimes  in  prosperous  occupation,  and  sometimes  in 
the  cold  state  of  a  show  place,  but  always  full  of  historical 
interest,  of  beauty  and  of  individual  charm. 

Tours,  which  is  the  natural  and  most  convenient  centre  from 
which  to  visit  these  twelve  surrounding  chateaux,  stands  upon 
the  left  bank  of  the  Loire  some  four  or  five  hours  south  of  Paris 
by  rail.  As  early  as  the  Gallo-Roman  period  Tours  was  a 
place  of  importance;  it  became  the  seat  of  a  bishopric  soon  after 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Gaul,  about  the  close  of 

4 


. 


' 


■ 


TOURS 


the  lid  century,  and  it  is  to  its  third  bishop,  Martin,  soldier, 
missionary  and  saint,  that  much  of  its  later  prosperity  and  im¬ 
portance  are  due. 

Saint  Martin,  who  was  the  son  of  a  tribune  in  the  Roman 
army  and  himself  a  member  of  the  Imperial  Guard  of  Constan¬ 
tine,  was  stationed  at  Amiens  in  the  winter  of  338-9.  He  was  a 
Christian,  but  had  never  yet  been  baptized.  Returning  one 
bitterly  cold  night  from  a  tour  of  inspection,  he  was  accosted 
at  the  city  gate  by  a  wretched,  shivering  beggar.  Having  no 
money  to  give,  he  took  off  his  chlamyde  or  military  cloak,  a 
square  of  thick  white  cloth,  rounded  on  one  side  and  held  in 
place  by  a  brooch,  and  cutting  it  in  two  with  his  sword,  he  gave 
one  half  to  the  beggar. 

That  night  the  Saviour  appeared  to  him :  “See  Martin,”  he 
said,  “is  not  this  your  cloak?”  Then,  turning  to  the  heavenly 
beings  who  accompanied  him,  he  added:  “Martin,  though  only 
a  catechumen,  has  covered  me  with  his  cloak.”  Deeply  moved 
by  the  vision  and  by  the  gentle  reproof  conveyed  in  the  Sa¬ 
viour’s  words,  Martin  at  once  applied  for  baptism,  and  quitting 
the  army  later  on,  established  himself  at  Poitiers  among 
the  disciples  of  Saint  Hilary.  After  completing  his  novitiate  he 
withdrew  to  a  cave  situated  in  the  wild  valley  of  Liguge  south 
of  Poitiers,  and  from  there  he  began  his  great  missionary  work 
among  the  heathen  of  Gaul. 

In  the  year  370,  Lidoire,  Metropolitan  of  Cassarodunum,  died, 
and  the  fame  of  the  hermit  of  Liguge  having  spread  abroad, 
the  people  would  have  no  one  else  for  their  bishop.  For  twenty- 
seven  years,  accordingly,  Martin  filled  the  see,  becoming  so  uni¬ 
versally  revered  for  his  piety  and  reputed  miracles  that,  when  his 
death  occurred  at  last  at  Candes  (November  11,  397)  the  people 

7 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


of  that  town  were  determined  to  keep  his  body,  and  his  own 
disciples  had  to  steal  away  with  it  secretly  and  in  the  dead  of 
night. 

Arrived  safely  at  Caesarodunum,  the  remains  were  depos¬ 
ited  temporarily  at  a  spot  in  the  present  rue  du  Petit  St.  Martin, 
and  buried  the  next  day  according  to  custom  outside  the  walls 
of  the  Roman  city. 

Within  a  hundred  years  of  the  time  of  his  death  the  cult  of 
Saint  Martin  had  become  popular  throughout  Gaul.  The  prim¬ 
itive  little  chapel  that  had  been  erected  over  his  grave  gave 
place  to  a  larger  and  more  pretentious  building,  and  this  in 
turn  was  replaced  in  the  Xlth  and  Xllth  centuries  by  a  magnifi¬ 
cent  basilica,  so  filled  with  rare  objects  and  costly  gifts  that  its 
fame  spread  throughout  Christendom.  During  the  Middle 
Ages,  indeed,  nothing  contributed  more  to  the  wealth  and  in¬ 
fluence  of  a  community  than  to  possess  the  bones  of  a  bona- 
fide  saint  and  Martin’s  reputation  for  sanctity  was  unques¬ 
tioned.  When  Clovis  was  marching  his  victorious  army 
through  Touraine  in  507  he  would  not  suffer  his  men  so  much 
as  to  touch  anything  belonging  to  the  Church,  “for  fear  of  of¬ 
fending  Saint  Martin,”  and  shortly  afterwards  he  paid  large 
sums  into  the  treasury  of  the  basilica  in  gratitude  for  the  vic¬ 
tory  of  Vouille  and  the  death  of  Alaric  II,  both  of  these  events 
being  wholly  attributed  to  Martin’s  interest  at  the  court  of 
heaven.  On  this  occasion,  however,  if  tradition  is  to  be  be¬ 
lieved,  the  Saint  was  not  so  easily  satisfied.  When  the  King 
had  mounted  his  war  horse  to  ride  away  he  found  to  his  amaze¬ 
ment  that  the  animal  would  not  stir.  The  omen  was  duly  in¬ 
terpreted,  the  King  paid  more  money  and  was  finally  allowed 
to  depart,  remarking  drily  as  he  did  so  that,  “though  Saint 
Martin  was  a  powerful  ally,  he  was  very  high  in  his  charges.” 

8 


TOURS 

With  each  succeeding  age  the  veneration  paid  to  the  relics 
of  the  Saint  increased.  Pilgrims  and  penitents  of  every  degree 
and  from  all  over  Europe  flocked  to  the  tomb,  while  occasion¬ 
ally  the  basilica  was  made  the  scene  of  events  of  national  impor¬ 
tance.  It  was  there,  for  instance,  that  Charlemagne  met  the 
chief  men  of  his  realm  in  the  spring  of  the  year  800  to  arrange 
for  a  provisional  division  of  the  State  among  his  three  sons. 
He  was  detained  at  Tours  more  than  a  month  by  the  illness 
and  death  of  his  third  wife,  Hildegarde,  who  was  buried  in 
St.  Martin’s  in  the  north  transept.  A  tower  which  was  after¬ 
wards  built  over  the  spot  has  always  been  called  from  this, 
“La  Tour  Charlemagne.” 

Already,  under  the  Merovingian  kings,  it  had  become  cus¬ 
tomary  to  carry  the  chape  or  cope  of  St.  Martin  into  battle 
before  the  hosts  to  insure  victory,  this  national  “palladium”  be¬ 
ing,  as  was  believed,  one  half  of  the  cloak  shared  with  the  beg¬ 
gar  of  Amiens.1 

The  more  Saint  Martin  increased  in  honor  the  greater  the 
wealth  that  flowed  in  at  his  shrine,  and  the  more  numerous 
the  privileges  granted  to  the  chapter.  Under  Charles  the  Bald 
(848)  the  office  of  Abbot  of  St.  Martin’s  was  secularized.  At 
first  in  the  gift  of  the  crown,  it  became  hereditary  among  the 
descendants  of  Hugh  Capet,  and  for  many  ages  each  succeed¬ 
ing  king  of  France  came  to  Tours  to  be  initiated  as  abbot  with 
magnificent  ceremonial.  Louis  XVI  was  the  last  to  go  through 
this  rite. 

Every  such  event  left  its  mark  in  rich  gifts,  so  that  by  the 

1The  words  “chapel”  and  “chaplain”  ensign  of  France,  the  cope  of  St.  Martin 
are  derived  from  the  names  given  to  the  was  lost  sight  of.  Two  churches,  how- 
oratory  in  which  the  chape  was  kept  and  ever,  St.  Oliviet,  in  the  diocese  of  Or- 
the  clerics  especially  appointed  to  serve  leans,  and  Bussy-St. -Martin  in  the  dio- 
it.  After  the  Capetan  kings  had  adopted  cese  of  Manx,  still  possess  relics  which 
the  standard  of  St.  Denis  as  the  royal  are  said  to  be  portions  of  it. 

9 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

XVIth  century,  before  the  Huguenots  pillaged  it  (1562),  the 
basilica  of  St.  Martin  was  reputed  to  be  one  of  the  richest  and 
most  splendid  in  all  Christendom.1  Disastrous  as  was  the 
damage  wrought  by  the  Huguenots,  the  building  at  least  re¬ 
mained  and,  more  important  still,  the  relics  of  the  Saint.  The 
final  blow  fell  in  1790  when  the  Revolutionists  broke  into  the 
basilica,  pillaged  it,  violated  the  tombs,  and  turned  it  into  a 
stable  for  a  regiment  of  cavalry.  A  sacristan  contrived  to 
save  a  part  of  the  skull  and  one  arm-bone  of  Saint  Martin, 
and  these  are  now  preserved  in  the  modern  church. 

In  1798  the  building  was  condemned,  and  in  spite  of  the 
most  lively  protests  from  the  citizens,  who  offered  to  pay  for 
its  restoration  themselves,  it  was  blown  up  on  St.  Martin’s 
day,  nth  November.  The  materials  were  divided  into  lots 
and  sold,  and  the  rue  des  Halles  was  extended  through  the 
site.  All  that  is  left  to-day  of  the  famous  basilica  are  the  two 
towers,  la  Tour  Charlemagne,  and  la  Tour  de  THorloge,  which 
we  see  forlornly  rearing  themselves  like  the  masts  of  a  sunken 
vessel  above  the  sea  of  roofs  and  gables  that  form  the  busiest 
and  most  bustling  quarter  of  modern  Tours.  With  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  the  tomb  in  i860  the  cult  of  Saint  Martin  was  sol¬ 
emnly  re-inaugurated,  and  a  new  basilica  was  raised  as  nearly 
on  the  original  site  as  the  altered  plan  of  the  city  would  allow. 

At  an  early  day  buildings  of  many  sorts  had  sprung  up 
about  the  shrine ;  houses  for  the  canons,  inns  and  hospitals  for 
pilgrims,  monasteries,  and  an  extraordinary  number  of 
churches;  a  whole  new  town  in  itself,  connected  with  Tours 
by  the  Roman  road  leading  west  to  Angers.  In  the  Xth  cen- 

1  The  Huguenots  were  not,  however,  of  money  for  his  pleasures  and  his  wars, 
the  first  to  lay  violent  hands  upon  the  carried  off  a  magnificent  silver  grill  with 
treasures  of  St.  Martin’s.  The  most  which  Louis  XI  had  enclosed  the  shrine, 
Catholic  King,  Francis  I,  always  in  want  and  had  it  melted  down  into  coin. 


IO 


'  . 

■ 

it.  this  comm* 

i  :  p  •  n 

. 

joti  set 

turnin,  formerly  Les 

■  gg'-- 

.  most  of  the  bn  :r. 

in  the  rue  dja^g^t  §<t> 

from  Candes,  is  a  storage-roo 
century  church  o :  St.  '  benis  is 

' 

- 

XIVtb  century,  or,  it  may  be,  a 

tin  cci  •  «« 

ofSaintCai.ii. 

. 


THE  TOUR  CHARLEMAGNE,  BELONGING  TO  THE  ANCIENT 
BASILICA  OF  ST.  MARTIN  OF  TOURS 


TOURS 


tury,  with  the  constant  dread  of  the  Normans  hanging  over 
it,  this  community  built  a  wall  of  defence  of  its  own,  and  was 
called  Chateauneuf.  Under  Louis  XI  the  two  towns,  with 
the  interlying  suburbs,  were  enclosed  within  a  common  line 
of  fortifications  and  the  whole  from  that  time  went  by  the  name 
of  Tours.1 

Scattered  thickly  through  the  narrow  streets  of  what  was 
Chateauneuf,  one  still  comes  upon  traces  of  that  wonderful  old 
ecclesiastical  city  where  nearly  every  building  depended  in 
some  sort  upon  the  basilica.  When  Fulk  Nerra,  Count  of  An¬ 
jou,  set  fire  to  it  in  994  twenty-two  churches  and  chapels  are 
said  to  have  been  injured.  A  few  of  these,  not  of  course  the 
original  fabrics,  have  been  restored,  as  the  church  of  St.  Sa- 
turnin,  formerly  Les  Carmes,  and  Notre  Dame  la  Riche,2  but 
most  of  the  buildings  have  either  disappeared  outright  or  have 
only  survived  to  be  put  to  base  uses.  The  chapel,  for  example, 
in  the  rue  du  Petit  St.  Martin,  that  marks  the  spot  where  the 
Saint’s  body  was  deposited  the  night  it  was  brought  back 
from  Candes,  is  a  storage-room  for  old  furniture,  and  the  Xllth 
century  church  of  St.  Denis  is  the  stable  of  the  Hotel  de  la 
Croix  Blanche.  Here  and  there  a  bit  of  carving,  a  pointed 
window  or  door-way,  the  graceful  span  of  an  arch,  starts  sud¬ 
denly  up  in  pathetic  beauty,  and  proclaims  itself,  from  the  wall 
of  the  shop  or  ware-house  into  which  it  has  been  incorporated, 
to  be  all  that  remains  of  a  building  erected  in  the  XHIth  or 
XIV th  century,  or,  it  may  be,  at  the  very  height  of  the  Renais- 

1  About  the  year  480  Caesarodunum  be-  Dame  la  Pauvre,  the  name  was  changed 

came  a  part  of  the  kingdom  of  Aquitaine  to  “la  Riche’’  when  the  church  was  re- 
and  thereafter  was  called  Turonia.  built  in  the  Xlth  century.  The  present 

2  Built  on  the  site  of  the  first  Chris-  church,  dating  from  1363,  was  entirely 
tian  cemetery,  the  traditional  burial-place  restored  in  the  XIXth  century. 

of  Saint  Gatien.  Originally  called  Notre 

*  13 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


sance.  Among  the  complete  disappearances  perhaps  the  most 
to  be  regretted  is  that  of  the  original  church  of  St.  Saturnin, 
the  parish  church  of  the  aristocracy  and  the  wealthy  bour¬ 
geoisie  of  the  early  XVIth  century.  It  contained,  among  many 
other  splendid  tombs,  that  carved  by  the  Justes  for  Thomas 
Bohier  and  his  wife,  Katherine  Brigonnet,  the  builders  of 
Chenonceaux.  They,  together  with  most  of  the  other  rich 
bourgeois  of  their  day,  sleep  beneath  the  busy  rue  de  Com¬ 
merce,  in  what  was  once  the  cemetery  of  the  church.  The 
building,  which  possessed  besides  its  tombs  a  magnificent  altar 
screen  carved  by  Michael  Colombe,  and  a  clock-tower  built  by 
Cardinal  Brigonnet  for  the  town  clock,  was  totally  destroyed 
by  the  Revolutionists  in  1798. 

It  was  from  St.  Saturnin’s  that  the  curfew  was  rung  in 
the  XIVth  century  at  seven  o’clock  in  winter  and  at  eight  in 
summer — broad  daylight.  Every  one  was  then  expected  to  go 
home  at  once,  extinguish  his  light,  and  get  to  bed.  Another 
XIVth  century  ordinance  required  all  work  to  cease  at 
vespers  on  Saturday;  any  one  failing  to  obey  could  either  pay 
a  fine  to  the  Church,  or  appear  publicly  on  five  consecutive 
Sundays  clad  only  in  shirt  and  drawers,  and  with  the  offend¬ 
ing  implement  of  labor  hung  about  his  neck.  Still  another 
ruling  of  the  authorities  of  that  day  might  be  revived  now 
with  immense  advantage.  The  beggars,  we  are  told,  had  be¬ 
come  such  a  pest  in  Tours  in  1350  that  an  order  was  issued 
punishing  a  first  offense  with  imprisonment,  a  second  with  the 
pillory,  and  after  that,  should  the  beggar  persist,  he  was  to 
be  branded  on  the  forehead  with  a  hot  iron  and  banished  from 
the  province. 

The  chief  charm  of  this  part  of  Tours  lies  in  the  narrow, 
twisting  streets,  noisy  with  the  clamor  of  wooden  shoes  and 

H 


TOURS 


high-pitched  voices;  the  quaint  nomenclature,  as,  the  street  “of 
the  Angels,”  of  the  “Four  Winds,”  of  the  “Swan,”  the  “Basket 
of  Flowers,”  or  the  “Flying  Serpent”;  and  above  all  in  the 
extraordinarily  steep  gables  of  the.  XVth  century  timber 
houses,  into  the  plaster  of  which  small  bricks  and  slates  are 
introduced  in  an  endless  variety  of  decorative  patterns. 

Glancing  through  almost  any  half-open  gate-way  one  may 
snatch  glimpses  of  a  sunny,  flagged  court,  surrounded  by  ir¬ 
regular  masses  of  building;  flowers  flame  from  carved  Re¬ 
naissance  windows,  the  gnarled  trunk  and  thick  foliage  of  a 
wistaria-vine  climb  the  stone  wall,  and  an  old  woman,  in  black 
gown  and  snowy  cap,  fills  her  copper  vessel  at  an  ancient  well. 
Some  flute-like  notes  float  down  the  narrow  street  and  a  lad 
advances  dressed  in  long  blue  blouse  and  playing  on  a  pipe, 
close  about  him  presses  his  little  herd  of  goats.  People  come 
to  their  doors  with  bowls  and  jugs;  the  piper  pauses,  milks 
his  goat  into  a  measure,  and  passes  on,  while  the  purchaser, 
as  like  as  not,  drains  ofif  his  glass  before  re-entering.  Life  is 
open  and  confiding  among  these  cheerful  people;  many  occu¬ 
pations  which  we  are  wont  to  look  upon  as  purely  domestic 
are  here  pursued  quite  frankly  upon  the  pavement. 

There  is  still  in  the  old  Chateauneuf  one  XIVth  century 
brick  and  stone  house  which,  though  used  as  a  tenement,  is 
in  excellent  preservation.  It  is  the  house  on  the  rue  Brigonnet 
to  which  the  popular  fancy  has  attached  the  name  of  Louis 
Xlth’s  hangman,  Tristan  l’Hermite.  A  sculptured  cord,  some 
rusty  nails  driven  into  the  fagade,  and  a  formidable-looking 
iron  hook  at  the  top  of  the  stair  tower  are  all  that  can  be  shown 
in  support  of  this  theory,  and  are  hardly  convincing.  A  certain 
Pierre  de  Puy  may  have  built  it;  he  was,  at  all  events,  the 
owner  in  1495,  and  the  words  Pries  Dieu  Pur  carved  over 

15 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

a  window  in  the  court-yard  are  thought  to  be  an  anagram  on 
his  name.  Near  this  window  is  an  ancient  stone  well  and  on 
the  other  side  a  spiral  stair  leads  to  a  lofty  loggia  from  whence, 
across  the  huddle  of  roofs  and  gables  of  every  angle  and  pitch 
of  steepness,  one  can  see  the  broad  bed  of  the  Loire  and  the 
hillsides  beyond.  This  house,  with  its  spacious  court-yard, 
its  general  air  of  lightness  and  grace,  its  rich  carvings,  and 
the  happy  manner  in  which  the  stone  and  brick  are  combined, 
is  an  especially  striking  example  of  the  perfection  to  which 
domestic  architecture  had  been  brought  in  Touraine  before 
any  Italian  influence  had  been  felt.  It  belongs  wholly  to  the 
French  Renaissance. 

Of  the  Renaissance  buildings  of  the  time  of  Louis  XII  and 
Francis  I  probably  the  most  complete  to-day  is  the  Flotel  Gouin 
on  the  rue  de  Commerce.  It  dates  from  the  latter  part  of  the 
XVth  century,  but  was  restored  “in  the  Italian  style”  early  in 
the  XVIth  century.  It  has  been  in  the  Gouin  family,  its  pres¬ 
ent  owners,  since  1738.  Another  treasure  of  the  Renaissance 
is  the  fountain  in  the  Grand  Marche  given  to  the  town  by 
Jacques  de  Beaune,  Baron  de  Semblengay,  Superintendent  of 
Finances  under  Francis  I.1  The  fountain  stood  originally  in 
a  small  square  done  away  with  in  1778  when  the  rue  Royale, 
now  Nationale,  was  created.  It  was  broken  in  pieces  and 
thrown  aside,  but  in  1820  an  enlightened  mayor  of  Tours  dis¬ 
covered  and  set  it  up  in  its  present  position.  When  Sem- 
blencay  made  his  gift  to  the  town,  monumental  public  fountains 
were  a  novelty  introduced  from  Italy  after  the  Italian  cam¬ 
paigns  of  Charles  VIII  and  Louis  XII;  under  the  latter  mon¬ 
arch  a  system  of  canals  was  inaugurated  by  means  of  which 
water  from  St.  Avertin  was  brought  into  Tours. 

1  See  p.  300. 

l6 


HOUSE  OF  TRISTAN  THE  HERMIT,  LOUIS  XI’ S  HANGMAN 


. 


TOURS 


The  idea  we  gather  of  the  manner  in  which  the  two  towns, 
Chateauneuf  and  Tours,  developed,  is  a  widely  differing  one. 
Chateauneuf  is  described  as  teeming  with  a  bustling,  pros¬ 
perous  population  who  built  fine  houses,  multiplied  churches, 
trafficked  with  the  swarms  of  pilgrims  who  thronged  to  the 
shrine  of  St.  Martin,  and  quarrelled  incessantly  with  their  gov¬ 
erning  body,  the  Chapter  of  the  basilica. 

The  people  of  the  older  town,  on  the  contrary,  quite  indiffer¬ 
ent  to  the  progress  of  their  young  rival,  dreamed  on,  occupied 
chiefly  with  the  leisurely  rebuilding  of  their  cathedral,  and 
acquiescing  tranquilly  in  the  rule  of  their  archbishops.  This 
contrast  seems  to  have  outlived  the  centuries,  and  the  condi¬ 
tions  that  caused  it.  The  magnificent  basilica  is  gone  and  with 
it  those  long  trains  of  pilgrims  and  royal  penitents  to  whom 
Chateauneuf  owed  its  prosperity.  The  cathedral  has  been  fin¬ 
ished  for  centuries  and  the  archbishops,  dwelling  peacefully 
amidst  the  trees  and  flowers  of  the  Archeveche  gardens,  wield 
but  little  apparent  influence  upon  the  public  life  of  Tours.  Yet 
you  have  not  gone  fifty  yards  east  of  the  rue  Nationale  before 
you  are  conscious  of  a  subtle  change.  There  are  fewer  people 
in  the  streets,  less  noise,  fewer  shops ;  the  occasional  passer-by 
moves  at  a  leisurely  gait  and  you  are  no  longer  hustled  or 
pushed.  From  above  a  lofty  garden- wall  rose-branches  nod 
and  wave  and  cast  their  petals  at  your  feet.  The  ivy  has 
grown  there  undisturbed  for  centuries.  You  can  picture  the 
garden  without  going  inside;  surely  it  has  gravelled  walks 
and  a  fig-tree  beneath  which  the  little  lonely  Felix  of  Balzac’s 
Lys  dans  la  Vallee  played  with  pebbles  and  consorted  with 
his  star. 

The  streets  wind  and  curve  incessantly ;  now  you  are  follow¬ 
ing  what  is  evidently  the  line  of  a  rounding  wall  of  defence; 

19 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

part  of  the  wall  is  still  there  and  some  remains  of  an  ancient 
gate-way;  you  feel  shut  in,  enclosed,  separated  from  the  out¬ 
side  world.  Beneath  your  feet  lie  the  substructures  of  the 
Roman  city,  with  its  huge  amphitheatre,  its  baths  and  temples, 
a  whole  forgotten  world,  a  people  of  whose  history  and  civili¬ 
zation  all  impression  has  utterly  passed  away. 

The  nearer  you  approach  the  cathedral  the  stronger  does 
this  sensation  grow,  and  a  solemn,  dream-like  stillness  seems 
fairly  to  radiate  from  the  great  pile  and  to  transport  you  back 
to  that  wonderful  age  that  could  conceive  and  aspire  to  carry 
out  such  miracles.  St.  Gatien’s,  however,  like  all  other  old 
cathedrals,  was  not  the  product  of  a  single  age,  nor  was  it 
completed  on  the  original  plan. 

“In  the  Xllth  century  there  were  signs  of  a  general  reaction 
against  the  double,  lay  and  monastic,  feudal  yoke.  It  was  then 
that  populations  began  to  form  into  communes,  and  it  was  then 
also  that  the  great  cathedrals  were  rebuilt  on  vastly  more  im¬ 
posing  scales.  Into  this  work  the  urban  populations  entered 
with  enthusiasm,  and  the  sums  placed  by  the  faithful  at  the 
disposal  of  their  bishops  were  enormous.  From  about  the  year 
1250,  however,  this  ardor  cooled;  money  was  soon  lacking  to 
carry  on  the  buildings  which,  by  the  end  of  the  century,  either 
came  to  a  stand-still  or  were  only  finished  through  the  indi¬ 
vidual  efforts  of  the  bishop  or  chapter.”1 

The  building  which  eventually  developed  into  the  Tours 
cathedral  was  originally  a  private  dwelling,  the  house  of  a 
senator  of  Csesarodunum  which  Saint  Martin’s  predecessor, 
Saint  Lidoire,  converted  into  a  place  of  worship  in  the  IVth 
century.  This  church,  dedicated  to  Saint  Maurice,  was  re¬ 
built  first  in  the  YTth  century  by  the  historian-bishop,  Gregory 

1  Larousse. 


20 


TOURS 


of  Tours1  (544-595),  and  again  in  1130.  Thirty-eight  years 
later  it  was  burned  to  the  ground,  one  of  those  catastrophes 
which,  as  has  been  said,  destroyed  so  many  cathedrals  at  a 
moment  so  peculiarly  opportune  as  to  suggest  that  they  may 
have  been  less  the  result  of  accident  than  of  an  over-mastering 
desire  to  rebuild  in  the  newly  developed  gothic  style  of 
architecture.2 

The  Tours  cathedral  began  magnificently.  In  the  course  of 
the  first  eighty  years  the  apse,  with  its  three  chapels,  and  the 
choir  were  completed.  L’oeuvre  d’un  esprit  rassis,  qui  pos- 
sede  d  fond  son  art ,  Viollet-le-Duc  calls  it.  These  still  pre¬ 
serve  intact  a  series  of  gorgeous  windows  whose  glowing  col¬ 
ors  seem  like  reflections  of  the  masses  of  poppies  and  lupins 
that  stain  the  fertile  fields  of  Touraine. 

After  this  the  work  progressed  ever  more  and  more  deli¬ 
berately.  “As  endless  as  St.  Maurice’s”  came  to  be  a  saying 
in  the  province.  During  the  building  of  the  transepts,  at  the 
end  of  the  Xlllth  and  beginning  of  the  XIVth  centuries,  a 
disaster  evidently  occurred.  The  records  preserve  urgent  ap¬ 
peals  for  contributions  in  some  sudden  emergency.  Two  great 
flying-buttresses  were  thrown  out  on  the  north  side,  and  a 
stone  column  was  carried  up  through  the  centre  of  the  outer 
wall  of  the  north  transept,  dividing  the  rose-window  in  two; 
so  admirably  is  this  contrived,  however,  that  it  appears  almost 
to  belong  to  the  original  design. 

At  length,  after  a  long  period  when  almost  nothing  was 

1  “The  History  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  at  begins  in  337  and  breaks  off  in  591,  is 
once  civil  and  religious  in  character,  is  the  most  curious  and  interesting  history 
the  work  of  a  man  who  accepted  every-  we  possess  of  the  formation  of  the  French 
thingthat  came  in  his  way  without  ques-  monarchy.” — E.  Giraudet,  “Histoire  de 
tion;  tradition  as  well  as  contempora-  Tours.” 

neous  accounts  of  what  happened  during  2  See  M.  Paul  Vi  try  in  “Tours,  et  les 
his  own  life-time.  His  Chronicle,  which  Chateaux  de  Touraine.” 

21 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


done,  there  came  a  revival  of  interest;  work  on  the  nave  was 
energetically  resumed,  and  by  the  close  of  the  XV th  century 
nothing  remained  but  to  finish  the  towers,  already  on  a  level 
with  the  roof.  It  was  then  decided  to  substitute  the  lanterns 
just  coming  into  vogue,  for  the  gothic  spires  of  the  original 
plan.  The  north  lantern  was  finished  about  the  year  1507  and 
the  other  some  forty  years  later. 

The  Huguenots,  of  course,  made  wild  havoc  among  the  carv¬ 
ings  both  of  the  interior  and  the  exterior.  There  has  been 
some  restoration  of  the  latter,  and  one  beautiful  tomb,  which 
chanced  to  escape  both  them  and  the  Revolutionists  at  St.  Mar¬ 
tin’s,  stands  in  the  south  aisle,  where  it  was  placed  in  1820. 
It  is  the  tomb  of  three  boys  and  a  girl,  the  four  children  of 
Charles  VIII  and  Anne  of  Brittany,  all  of  whom  died  in  in¬ 
fancy,  the  first-born  alone  living  to  complete  his  third  year. 
The  sarcophagus  is  in  the  style  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  the 
work  probably  of  some  of  those  stone-carvers  who  followed 
Charles  to  France  after  his  Italian  expedition;  but  the  upper 
part,  the  figures  of  the  two  children,  lying  side  by  side  envel¬ 
oped  in  their  long  draperies,  and  the  little  tender  angels  kneel¬ 
ing  at  head  and  foot,  came  from  the  studio  of  Michael  Colombe 
and  were  doubtless  executed  under  the  master’s  own  eye.  It 
is  impossible  as  one  leans  gazing  at  the  two  little  forms,  chubby, 
serene,  so  early  exempted  from  their  burden  of  tumultuous  life, 
not  to  indulge  in  idle  speculations  as  to  how  it  would  have  been 
had  one  of  those  three  boys  lived  and  the  younger  branch  of 
the  House  of  Valois  had  not  succeeded.  France  without  a 
pere  du  pen  pie,  without  a  Franqois  Ier,  without  the  Medician 
Queens  and  Henry  of  Navarre! 

This  part  of  Tours  does  not  change,  it  was  finished  so  long 
ago.  Balzac’s  haunting  description  of  the  quarter  back  of  St. 

22 


TOMB  OF  THE  CHILDREN  OF  CHARLES  VIII  AND  ANNE  OF  BRITTANY 


TOURS 


Gatien’s  and  the  house  of  Mile.  Gamard  “resting  eternally  in 
the  shadow  of  the  great  cathedral  and  enveloped  in  a  pro¬ 
found  silence  broken  only  by  the  clanging  of  the  church-bells, 
the  muffled  sound  of  chanting  voices  and  the  shrill  cries  of 
jack-daws  perched  aloft  on  the  summits  of  the  towers,”  might 
have  been  written  yesterday. 

Close  by  the  little  house  under  the  huge  flying-buttress  is  the 
cloister,  all  ruined  and  neglected,  its  beautiful  galleries  en¬ 
closed,  its  little  chapel,  belonging  to  the  song  school,  a  lumber- 
room;  but  still  preserving  in  one  corner  a  spiral  stair,  carved 
and  garlanded  in  the  gracious  manner  of  the  Renaissance. 

On  the  south  and  close  to  the  cathedral  is  a  part  of  the  old 
Archeveche,  with  an  outside  pulpit  or  tribune  from  which  the 
decisions  of  the  ecclesiastical  court  of  justice  were  announced. 
Judging  from  the  engravings  preserved  of  it,  this  pulpit  must 
have  been  charming  before  it  was  restored.  Above  the  walls  of 
the  Archeveche  gardens  on  the  other  side  of  the  place,  rises  an 
ancient  tower  once  a  part  of  the  Gallo-Roman  wall  of  defence 
of  the  Hid  or  IV th  century.  It  was  from  this  tower  that  the 
archbishops  formerly  derived  their  feudal  title  of  baron,  and 
it  may  have  been  preserved  on  that  account. 

These  archbishops  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  centuries  suc¬ 
ceeding  were  tremendous  personages.  One  has  only  to  read  an 
account  of  an  installation  to  realize  something  of  the  enor¬ 
mous  power,  temporal  and  spiritual,  wielded  by  these  great 
princes  of  the  Church.  At  the  state  banquet,  for  instance, 
which  the  canons  and  clergy,  both  of  St.  Martin’s  and  the  ca¬ 
thedral,  attended  as  guests,  the  great  lords  came  as  feudato¬ 
ries  and  performed  menial  services  for  which  they  received 
compensation!  The  Seigneur  de  Marmande,  who  overlooked 
the  preparation  of  the  food,  received  in  return  all  the  utensils ;  the 


THE  CHATEAUX  OE  TOURAINE 


lord  of  Amboise  set  the  table  and  was  given  the  gold  and  silver 
plate;  the  Sieur  de  Hie  Bouchard  washed  the  new  Archbishop’s 
hands  and  received  his  ring;  he  of  Usse  carved,  and  was  given 
the  cutlery  and  so  on.  Notwithstanding  the  perquisites,  how¬ 
ever,  the  barons  finally  revolted  against  the  feudal  obligation 
implied  in  these  acts  and  they  were  abolished. 

The  entrance  to  the  Archbishop’s  garden  is  on  the  place 
de  l'Archeveche  by  a  monumental  gate-way,  built  out  of  a 
triumphal  arch  erected  in  honor  of  Louis  XIV  and  taken  down 
when  the  rue  Royale,  or  Nationale,  was  extended.  Sometimes 
this  gate  stands  open  and  you  may  see  a  magnificent  cedar 
of  Lebanon  just  within,  rising  in  the  middle  of  a  grassy  circle, 
but  the  rest  of  the  big  gardens  as  well  as  the  lower  and  orig¬ 
inal  part  of  the  feudal  tower,  will  be  hidden  from  you  until  the 
day  that  you  climb  the  three  hundred  and  three  steps  leading 
to  the  south  lantern  of  St.  Gatien’s  and  look  down  at  them 
from  above.  In  the  late  hours  of  a  summer  afternoon,  when 
the  shadows  are  beginning  to  lengthen,  and  the  whole  land  lies 
bathed  in  slanting  showers  of  gold,  Tours,  spread  map-wise 
at  your  feet,  presents  a  scene  of  quite  indescribable  loveliness. 
There  you  shall  see  the  shimmering  silver  of  the  Loire,  the 
opposite  hill-sides  crowned  with  white  villas;  the  grey  old  Tour 
de  Guise  starting  up  from  amid  its  surrounding  bed  of  foliage, 
the  deserted  rue  de  la  Psalterie  sheer  below,  over-arched  by 
the  two  mighty  flying-buttresses  and  skirting  the  cloister  and 
song-school ;  the  quaint  old-world  court-yard  of  a  near-by  con¬ 
vent,  where  the  sisters,  in  their  white  woolen  gowns  and  flap¬ 
ping  caps,  hasten  back  and  forth  domestically  occupied  with 
pots  and  sauce-pans;  the  square  tower  of  St.  Julien’s  and  be¬ 
yond  it  those  two  other  great  towers  of  old  St.  Martin’s  which 
harmonize  so  admirably  with  the  dome  of  the  modern  basilica ; 

26 


TOURS 


and  the  verdant  masses  of  the  squares  and  boulevards,  and 
the  gardens — the  garden  of  l’hotel  de  M.  le  General,  of  the 
Prefecture,  of  l’Archeveche  and  of  the  Petit  Seminaire. 
In  the  Archeveche,  the  nearest  of  all,  are  pleasant,  shady 
walks,  flower  beds,  groves  of  ancient  trees  and  long,  straight 
terraces  laid  out  on  the  summits  of  the  massive  and  lofty 
walls  of  defence  of  old  Turonia.  All  about  you  stretches 
a  wilderness  of  grey  sculptured  stone;  grim  gargoyles  start 
from  beneath  your  feet,  and  even  there,  close  to  the  sky  as  it 
seems,  where  none  but  chance  tourists  ever  stray,  is  the  same 
luxuriance  of  carving,  the  same  abandonment  and  wealth  of 
detail  that  appeared  so  marvellous  in  the  lower  and  frequented 
parts  of  the  cathedral. 

You  will  linger  long,  and  carry  away  with  you  a  memory 
that  not  years  or  distance  shall  efface. 


27 


MARMOUTIER 
THE  TOUR  DE  GUISE 
PLESSIS-LES-TOURS 
ST.  PIERRE  DES  CORPS 


CHAPTER  II 


TOURS  ( Continued );  MARMOUTIER ;  THE  TOUR  DE  GUISE; 
PLESSIS-LES-TOURS ;  ST.  PIERRE  DES  CORPS 

WHEN  Saint  Martin  became  Bishop  of  Tours  his 
“palace”  was  a  little  hut  alongside  the  primitive 
church.  Its  only  furniture  was  a  wooden  stool 
and  the  earth  served  him  for  a  bed.  Rude  and  ascetic  as  these 
surroundings  were,  the  dwelling  was  nevertheless  situated  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  noisy,  bustling  Roman  city,  and  close  to 
the  baths  and  amphitheatre,  and  the  new  Bishop,  fresh  from 
his  hermit  life  in  the  valley  of  Liguge,  felt  the  stir  and  confu¬ 
sion  to  be  intolerable.  On  the  other  side  of  the  river,  a  mile 
or  two  above  the  town,  he  found  some  of  those  caves  hewn 
out  of  the  rock  such  as  the  inhabitants  along  the  banks  of  the 
Loire  use  as  dwellings  to  this  day,  and  there  he  established  a 
retreat  for  himself  and  his  followers,  which  quickly  developed 
into  a  monastery  under  the  name  of  Marmoutier — Majlis  Mo- 
nasterium — and  became  in  time  one  of  the  most  famous 
religious  houses  in  France. 

It  was  here  that  Pope  Urban  II  stayed  in  1096,  when  he 
came  to  preside  over  the  Council  of  Tours;  and  on  Sunday, 
9  March,  he  preached  the  first  Crusade  from  a  platform  erected 
on  the  river-bank  to  an  enormous  multitude.  Fulk  le  Jeune, 
Count  of  Anjou  and  Touraine,  was  among  those  who  took  the 
Cross  and  received  the  papal  blessing. 

31 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


In  the  period  of  Marmcutier’s  greatest  opulence,  that  is, 
the  Xlth-XIIIth  centuries,  a  magnificent  abbey  church  was 
erected  with  monastic  buildings  and  a  fortified  enclosing  wall ; 
of  these  the  Revolution  has  left  nothing  except  a  very  striking 
bit  of  feudal  architecture,  the  lower  part  of  a  square  tower  and 
the  Portail  dc  la  Crosse ,  as  it  is  called,  through  which  none  but 
the  mitred  abbot  of  Marmoutier  might  pass,  built  in  1220  by 
the  then  abbot,  Hughes  des  Roches. 

In  the  XIXth  century  Marmoutier  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  Sisters  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  They  put  up  extensive  and 
ugly  buildings  and  conducted  a  large  Pensionnat  de  Jeunes 
Fillcs.  Under  the  law  of  7  July,  1904,  however,  this  has  been 
closed,1  and  it  is  now  quite  melancholy  to  wander  through  the 
neglected  gardens  and  dismantled  chapels  while  the  concierge, 
a  dear  old  lady  with  rosy  cheeks  and  a  stiff  white  cap,  pours 
out  a  dirge-like  recital  of  all  the  departed  grandeurs. 

You  climb  up  and  down  little  flights  of  steep  stone  steps,  and 
visit  the  grottoes  and  the  caves  of  Saint  Martin  and  Saint 
Brice — “a  great  sinner,  but  glorious  in  his  repentance” — and 
of  the  seven  brethren,  all  members  of  the  community,  who, 
dying  upon  the  same  day,  preserved  so  life-like  an  appearance 
that  they  were  called  the  Seven  Sleepers ;  but  all  of  these  places 
have  been  fitted  up  with  altars  and  images  and  artificial  flowers, 
and  having  in  consequence  quite  lost  their  primitive  appearance 
are  not  very  repaying. 

You  may  return  from  Marmoutier  to  Tours  by  the  sus¬ 
pension  bridge  of  St.  Symphorien,  built  upon  the  site  of  a  very 

1  “Loi  relative  a  la  suppression  de  1’en-  autorisees  a  titre  de  congregations  exclu- 
seignement  congreganiste.  sivement  enseignantes  seront  supprimees 

“  Art.  I.  — L’enseignement  de  tout  orde  dans  un  delar  maximum  de  dix  ans,” 
et  de  toute  nature  est  interdit  en  France  etc.,  etc. 
aux  Congregations.  Les  Congregations 

32 


■ 

r.;i  'V  Cl  -h: 

■ 


' 

,  •»!  '  •■vniK-atiorc- 

>{.4i  i "joi/m/-  m  'io  v.-iaa/-  hht  -io  j/.t-aoh 


had  been  especially  con 
making  fast  one  end  of  a 

tbc  v.  indov- . 

a:;ed  to  tlee  swiftl  ■  n 

.  K:  :  ■  . 

■ 


PORTAL  OF  THE  CROSS,  ABBEY  OF  MARMOUTIF.R 


MARMOUTIER 


early  bridge  of  boats.  Crowds  of  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  and 
from  the  shrine  of  Saint  Martin  used  to  pass  over  this  bridge 
and  accidents  so  frequently  happened  in  times  of  flood  that  in 
1034  Odo  II,  Count  of  Blois  and  Touraine,  pour  etre  agrcablc 
a  Dieu,  utile  d  la  posterity,  et  sur  les  instances  et  les  soins  de  sa 
femme,  built  a  handsome  bridge  of  stone,  the  first  of  its  class 
in  France.1  The  substructures  of  this  bridge  can  still  be  seen 
just  below  the  surface  of  the  water  a  little  up-stream.  King 
Henry  I  exempted  the  new  bridge  in  perpetuity  from  all  tolls, 
a  privilege  which  does  not,  however,  extend  to  its  successor. 

On  the  south,  Count  Odo’s  bridge  was  defended  by  a  massive 
round  tower,  built  on  Gallo-Roman  foundations  and  forming 
later  on  a  part  of  the  fortifications  of  the  royal  chateau.  This 
tower,  which  is  still  standing,  has  gone  by  the  name  of  the  Tour 
de  Guise  ever  since  the  young  Duke  of  Guise  hardily  escaped 
from  it  three  years  after  his  father’s  murder  at  Blois,  23  Decem¬ 
ber,  1588.  The  Duke  had  attended  Mass  on  Assumption  Day, 
1591,  and  on  his  return  he  proposed  to  his  guards  a  race  to 
the  top  of  this  tower.  Readily  outstripping  them,  he  gained 
his  own  apartment,  closed  and  barred  a  heavy  door  which 
had  been  especially  constructed  to  prevent  his  escape,  and 
making  fast  one  end  of  a  rope  which  had  been  slipped  in 
among  his  clothes  by  the  washerwoman,  he  slid  down  from 
the  window. 

The  alarm  had  been  given  and  he  was  fired  upon;  he  fell 
fifteen  feet,  lost  his  hat  and  injured  one  knee,  yet  he  man¬ 
aged  to  flee  swiftly  along  the  deserted  strip  of  sand  between 
the  river  and  the  town-wall,  pursued  all  the  while  by  the  per¬ 
sistent  cries  of  an  old  woman  who  kept  shrilling:  “The  Guise 
is  running  away !  The  Guise  is  running  away !” 

xThe  bridge  of  Avignon,  sometimes  cited  as  the  first  long  stone  bridge  in 
France,  dates  only  from  1170. 

35 


4 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


Meeting  a  miller  leading  his  horse  to  water,  he  leaped  upon 
the  animal's  back  and  rode  quickly  off  while  the  owner  stood 
stupidly  staring  after  him;  but  his  next  encounter  threatened 
for  a  moment  to  put  an  end  to  the  adventure.  There  suddenly 
swung  into  view,  riding  rapidly  toward  him,  an  armed  and 
mounted  soldier,  who  halted,  blocking  the  way.  Mistaking 
him  for  one  of  the  castle  guards  sent  to  intercept  him,  the  Duke, 
without  waiting  for  the  other  to  speak,  offered  to  surrender 
and  return  to  the  chateau. 

“Why,  who  are  you?”  stammered  the  man,  gazing  at  him 
blankly.  The  Duke  told  him,  whereupon  to  his  utter  stupe¬ 
faction  the  soldier  hastily  dismounted,  saluted,  and  insisted  on 
giving  him  his  horse,  a  better  one  than  the  miller’s.  It  turned 
out  that  he  was  an  old  member  of  the  League.1  The  Duke 
got  safely  away  and  the  Governor  of  the  chateau  expended  his 
activity  in  securely  walling  up  the  window  from  which  the 
prisoner  escaped. 

The  Tour  de  Guise,  as  has  been  said,  was  once  a  part  of  the 
royal  chateau,  built,  or,  at  all  events,  greatly  added  to,  by 
Henry  II,  King  of  England,  and  hereditary  Count  of  An¬ 
jou,  whose  ancestors  had  likewise  added  Touraine  to  their 
domains. 

•  “No  other  one  of  its  rulers,”  writes  a  modern  historian,2 
“count,  duke  or  king,  rendered  more  eminent  services  to  Tours, 
or  better  deserved  the  gratitude  of  its  people.”  He  fortified 
several  of  the  suburbs,  built  bridges,  constructed  roads,  pro¬ 
tected  the  town  from  roving  bands  of  freebooters,  founded 
several  abbeys,  built  or  repaired  a  number  of  churches  and 
the  royal  chateau,  and  made  generous  gifts  to  the  hospitals. 

1  See  p.  48. 

2  M.  Ch.  V.  Langlois,  in  Lavisse’s  Histoire  de  la  Fra7ice.  Vol.  Ill,  part  I. 


THE  TOUR  DE  GUISE 


During  a  terrible  famine  in  1176  he  for  three  months  fed  up¬ 
wards  of  ten  thousand  persons  at  his  own  cost. 

Loyalty  to  her  Angevin  rulers  cost  Tours  dear  in  the  end, 
however,  for  throughout  all  the  period  of  struggle  before  the 
Plantagenet  kings  of  England  were  definitely  driven  from  the 
continent,  the  citizens  of  Tours  had  a  miserable  time  of  it. 
A  letter  written  in  1209  speaks  of  the  “scourge  of  war  that 
has  again  fallen  upon  us.  Misfortunes  of  every  kind  and  sort 
have  utterly  effaced  the  beauty  and  prosperity  of  our  city. 
Tours,  once  so  rich,  so  gay  and  populous,  is  reduced  to  such  a 
condition  that  on  all  sides  you  see  nothing  but  poverty,  wretch¬ 
edness  and  misery.” 

This  unhappy  state  of  things  continued,  moreover,  through¬ 
out  most  of  the  period  of  the  English  wars.  Isabelle  of  Bavaria 
made  Tours  the  seat  of  her  intrigues  against  her  own  son,  the 
Dauphin,  afterwards  Charles  VII,  and  was  for  a  time  confined 
in  the  chateau.  Feigning  a  desire  to  go  into  retreat  at  Mar- 
moutier,  she  notified  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  promptly  ap¬ 
peared  with  a  strong  force  and  carried  her  off  to  Paris.1 

In  1416  Touraine  was  given  to  the  Dauphin  in  appanage 
and  the  year  after  his  accession  (1422)  he  bestowed  it  upon 
his  Queen,  Marie  of  Anjou,  as  an  “advance  on  her  dowry.” 
It  was  soon  taken  away  again,  however,  and  given  to  Archibald, 
Earl  of  Douglas,  who  was  created  Duke  of  Touraine  as  a 
reward  for  his  services  against  the  English.  The  townspeople 
appear  to  have  accepted  this  transfer  with  satisfaction,  and 
the  corps  de  ville  resolved  to  make  their  new  Duke  a  gift 
“in  which  every  one  should  have  a  part.”  They  voted  him, 
accordingly,  ten  pipes  of  wine,  six  “mui.ds,”  or  wagon-loads, 
of  hay,  a  hundred  pounds  of  wax,  fifty  sheep,  and  four  fat  oxen. 

1  See  p.  122. 

37 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

Douglas  made  his  state  entry  on  the  7th  May,  1424,  by  the 
Porte  de  la  Riche ;  the  keys  of  the  town  were  presented  to  him, 
all  the  streets  through  which  he  passed  were  richly  decorated, 
and  four  prominent  bourgeois  were  appointed  to  precede  him 
as  far  as  Loches,  his  next  stopping  place.  He  did  not  enjoy 
his  new  possession  long,  however,  for  he  was  killed  three  months 
later  (17th  August,  1424)  at  the  battle  of  Verneuil.  Touraine 
then  passed  to  the  Duke  of  Anjou. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Tour  de  Guise  and  one  or  two 
other  towers,  all  incorporated  in  the  Guise  barracks,  the  old  royal 
chateau  has  completely  disappeared.  After  Charles  Vllth’s 
time  the  sovereigns  lived  there  but  rarely,  preferring,  when 
they  came  to  Tours,  to  stay  at  the  palace  built  by  Louis  XI 
at  Montils  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 

It  was,  however,  at  the  old  chateau  that  Louis  celebrated  his 
marriage  with  Margaret  of  Scotland,  a  daughter  of  James  I 
and  Joan  Beaufort.  The  bride  made  her  entry  into  Tours  on 
horseback  on  24th  June,  1436.  Alighting  at  the  gate  of  the 
chateau,  she  was  escorted  by  the  Duke  of  Yendome  on  the  one 
hand  and  the  Earl  of  Orkney  on  the  other,  followed  by  her 
Scottish  suite,  to  the  Grand’Salle.  Here  the  kind-hearted 
Queen  advanced  to  meet  the  poor  little  Princess,  so  strange 
and  forlorn  in  her  new  surroundings,  and  taking  her  in  her 
arms  embraced  and  kissed  her.  Presently  the  Dauphin,  who 
had  waited  in  another  room,  entered  with  a  group  of  nobles 
and  cavaliers,  and  the  two,  who  now  met  for  the  first  time, 
s’entrebaiserent  ct  accollerent;  after  which  the  Queen  took 
them  into  her  own  room  and  amused  them  till  supper-time. 

The  next  day  the  marriage  ceremony  took  place  in  the  cathe¬ 
dral.  The  King,  Charles  VII,  arrived  while  the  bride  was 
being  dressed  and  went  at  once  to  her  room.  He  had  been 

38 


FACADE  OF  CHATEAU  OF  PLESSIS-LES-TOURS 


. 


. 

. 


THE  TOUR  DE  GUISE 


extremely  anxious  for  the  match,  which  was  to  secure  for  him 
the  aid  of  Scotland  against  the  English,  and  is  said  to  have 
been  moult  joyeux  et  bien  content  de  sa  personne.  The  Queen 
wore  a  gown  of  blue  velvet  on  the  occasion  covered  with  gold 
ornaments  and  the  young  couple  were  royally  attired,  but  the 
King  did  not  change  his  travelling  dress  and  attended  the  cere¬ 
mony  booted  and  spurred. 

On  account  of  their  extreme  youth  the  newly  married  pair 
were  not  given  a  separate  establishment  until  the  following 
year  and  for  the  present  the  Dauphine  was  left  under  the  care 
of  the  Queen,  Marie  of  Anjou,  habitually  kind  and  gentle  to 
every  one.  She  treated  her  little  daughter-in-law  with  extreme 
tenderness,  as,  indeed,  she  had  need  to  do,  for  Louis  took  an 
instant  dislike  to  her  and  their  relations  were  miserably  un¬ 
happy.  Fortunately  she  had  inherited  something  of  her  father’s 
tastes,  and  for  a  time  she  solaced  herself  with  books  and  poetry, 
passing  whole  nights  at  the  window  composing  rondeaux. 
Nevertheless,  her  husband’s  neglect  preyed  upon  her,  she  be¬ 
came  melancholy,  and  some  ill-natured  remarks  of  one  of  the 
courtiers  coming  to  her  ears  added  to  her  unhappiness.  Then 
one  August  day  after  a  long,  hot  walk  she  took  a  chill,  pleurisy 
set  in,  and  having  apparently  neither  the  wish  nor  the  strength 
to  go  on  living,  she  died  a  few  days  later  (16  August,  1445). 

“Life?”  cried  the  unhappy  young  Princess  to  the  pitying 
courtiers  and  ladies  who  stood  about  her  bed.  “Life?  Fie! 
Let  me  hear  no  more  of  it !” 

The  King  and  Queen  took  their  daughter-in-law’s  death 
greatly  to  heart.  The  Queen  became  ill  from  la  desplaisance 
et  travail  que  elle  eust  d  cause  de  la  maladie  et  mort  de  madicte 
dame  la  Dauphine,  and  Charles  left  Chalons,  where  she  died, 
soudainement  comme  dolent,  courrouce  et  trouble;  but  we 

41 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


do  not  hear  of  any  grief  on  the  part  of  the  Dauphin,  whose 
neglect  was  the  chief  cause  of  her  death.  Margaret  is  de¬ 
scribed  by  her  contemporaries  as  being  beautiful,  accomplished 
and  gentle,  too  gentle,  perhaps ;  Louis’s  coarse  nature  required 
coarse  treatment.  She  was  twenty-two  when  she  died  and  had 
been  married  nine  years. 

In  1463  Louis  bought  for  himself — King  of  France,  Duke  of 
Touraine,  etc.,  etc.,  his  heirs  and  successors,  the  domain  of 
Montiz-les-Tours  from  Touchard  de  Maille,  seigneur  of  the 
neighboring  chateau  of  Maille.  The  only  dwelling,  a  ruined 
and  abandoned  old  keep,  was  pulled  down,  and  in  its  place 
Louis  built  the  famous  chateau  of  Plessis-les-Tours,  his  favorite 
residence  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  It  consisted  of  two 
large  courts,  the  outer  one  surrounded  by  the  stables  and  the 
lodgings  of  the  Scottish  Guard,  and  the  inner  one  by  the  royal 
and  state  apartments,  the  offices,  and  the  quarters  of  the  house¬ 
hold.  At  the  upper  end  of  this  second  court  was  a  beautiful 
arcaded  gallery,  something  like  the  one  at  Blois,  for  which  it 
served  as  model.  Three  lines  of  fortified  walls  and  as  many 
deep  moats  surrounded  the  whole. 

All  that  is  left  of  these  extensive  buildings  is  a  part  of  the 
east  wing  containing  the  chamber  in  which  Louis  died,  the 
Guard  room  handsomely  and  tastefully  restored  by  the  present 
owner,  Dr.  Chaumie,1  and  the  tower  with  its  wide  and  imposing 
spiral  stair.  At  what  was  the  extreme  southwest  angle  of  the 
building  are  the  remains  of  a  former  Guard  room,  where  some 
holes  in  the  wall  and  under  the  stairs  are  pointed  out  as  being 
respectively  the  cells  of  Cardinal  la  Balue  and  Philippe  de 

:  This  room  is  being  fitted  up  by  Dr.  Chaumie  as  a  museum  for  objects  con¬ 
nected  with  Louis  XI  and  his  period. 

42 


PLESS1S-LES-TOURS 

Commines,  neither  of  whom,  however,  was  confined  at  Plessis- 
les-Tours.1  Yet  another  opening  is  described  as  an  “oubliette.”2 

There  is,  indeed,  little  left  to  recall  the  formidable  chateau 
described  by  Sir  Walter  in  “Quentin  Durward,”  with  its  tur- 
reted  and  battlemented  walls,  its  triple  moat  fenced  with  iron 
palisades,  its  fortified  towers  and  donjon-keep,  and  traps  and 
pitfalls  for  the  unwary.  A  pleasant  garden  overruns  the  spot 
whereon  these  things  stood,  vegetables  flourish  in  the  lines  of 
the  ancient  moats,  and  even  the  ruins  have  been  carted  away 
to  provide  the  neighboring  hamlet  with  building  materials. 
The  one  wing  that  remains  is  far  more  smiling  than  severe. 
It  is  built  of  light  stone  and  mellow  brick.  Carved,  ornamented, 
graceful,  harmonious,  Plessis-les-Tours  ushered  in  the  best 
period  of  that  charming  style  of  domestic  architecture  that  was 
invented  and  developed  in  Touraine. 

“From  that  time  the  formula  was  found.  Details  of  deco¬ 
ration  might  change,  but  the  character  of  the  whole,  of  the 
details  themselves,  of  the  construction,  the  gables,  windows, 
dormers,  corbelled  tourelles,  and  open  stairs,  remains  the  same 
for  the  next  seventy  or  eighty  years,  and  the  type  created  by 
our  architects  in  the  second  third  of  the  XVth  century  was 
destined  to  endure  for  long  and  to  keep  alive  French  traditions 
in  spite  of  the  new  styles  introduced  from  beyond  the  moun¬ 
tains.”3 

The  eastward-looking  room  in  which  the  King  died  has 
large  windows  admitting  plenty  of  light  and  air,  and  at  one 
side  there  is  a  huge  fire-place.  As  the  end  approached,  Louis 
became  ever  more  and  more  suspicious,  and  would  have  none 

3  “Tours  et  les  chateaux  de  Touraine,” 
Paul  Vitry. 


1  See  p.  73. 

2  See  p.  81. 


43 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

blit  persons  of  low  station  about  him,  people  who  had  every¬ 
thing  to  lose  by  his  death  and  nothing  to  gain.  Even  Anne  de 
Beaujeu,  his  favorite  child,  was  sent  away  and  the  young 
Dauphin  was  kept  strictly  at  Amboise.  A  single  exception 
was  Philippe  de  Commines,  the  historian,  who  had  gained  the 
King’s  confidence;  he  remained  with  him  to  the  last  and  has 
left  a  graphic  account  of  the  closing  scenes.1  On  25th  August, 
1483,  the  King’s  malady  had  taken  so  serious  a  turn  that  he 
was  obliged  to  keep  his  bed,  but  he  never  ceased  to  issue  com¬ 
mands  and  directions,  maintaining  a  firm  grip  on  all  the  affairs 
of  the  kingdom.  Pie  commanded  Masses  to  be  said  for  his 
soul  in  every  parish,  sent  splendid  presents  to  the  most  notable 
shrines,  ordered  processions — melant  a  ses  prieres  des  instruc¬ 
tions  politiques,  il  parla,  parla  ton  jours  jusqu’  au  moment  oil 
la  mort  vient  lui  fermer  les  levres. 

Commines  says:  “In  all  his  life-time  he  had  given  com- 
mandement  to  all  his  servants,  as  well  my  selfe  as  others,  that 
when  we  should  see  him  in  danger  of  death,  we  should  onely 
moove  him  to  confesse  himselfe  and  dispose  of  his  conscience, 
not  sounding  in  his  eares  this  dreadfull  word  Death,  knowing 
that  he  should  not  be  able  patiently  to  heare  that  cruell  sen¬ 
tence.”2 

Notwithstanding  this  order,  when  it  was  seen  that  the  end 
was  drawing  near,  some  of  his  attendants  conceived  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  inform  the  King.  His  tyrannical  doctor,  James 
Cottier,  who,  Commines  says,  received  ten  thousand  crowns  a 


1  Philippe  de  Commines  was  a  native  standard  authority  for  the  reign  of 
of  Flanders.  At  first  attached  to  the  Louis  XI. 

Duke  of  Burgundy,  he  left  him  to  take  2  “  The  History  of  Commines.”  Eng- 
service  with  Louis,  on  whose  death,  fished  by  Thomas  Danett.  Vol.  II.  p. 

after  a  brief  period  of  disgrace,  he  was  107,  et  seq.  The  Tudor  Translations, 
received  into  favor  at  the  court  of  Edited  by  W.  E.  Henley.  XVII. 

Charles  VIII.  His  Memoires  are  the 


44 


CHATEAU  OF  PLESSfS-LES-TOURS 


.  Vmboise. 

^UOT-8?U^4%ajS  MO  UA3TAH3 

. 


. 


PLESSIS-LES-TOURS 

month  to  keep  his  master  alive,  was  selected  for  the  task.  He 
acquitted  himself  of  it  rudely. 

“Sir,”  said  he,  “it  is  reason  we  do  our  duties,  hope  no  more 
in  this  holie  man,1  nor  in  any  other  thing,  for  sure  you  are  but 
dead:  therefore  think  upon  your  conscience  for  your  hower 
is  come.  .  .  .” 

“Thus  you  see,”  says  Commines,  “how  indiscreetly  his  death 
was  signified  to  him.  .  .  .  Five  or  sixe  dais  before  his 
death  he  had  all  men  in  suspition,  especially  all  that  were 
woorthie  of  credit  and  authoritie,  yea,  he  grew  jealous  of  his 
owne  sonne,  and  caused  him  to  be  straightly  guarded,  neither 
did  any  man  see  him  or  speake  with  him  but  by  his  commande- 
ment.” 

Commines  likewise  recounts  the  extreme  measures  taken  by 
Louis  to  protect  his  own  person,  how  the  Scottish  archers  kept 
watch  by  night  and  day,  and  the  strict  examination  of  all  who 
came  or  went,  with  the  constant  changes  made  in  the  royal 
household.  From  all  of  which  he  deduces  the  extraordinary 
conclusion  that  the  King’s  terror  and  misery  “is  to  be  accounted 
as  a  punishment  God  gave  him  in  this  world  to  ease  him  in  the 
world  to  come.  .  .  .  After  all  these  feares,  sorrowes,  and 

suspicions,  God  (according  to  his  accustomed  goodness) 
wrought  a  miracle  upon  him,  healing  him  both  in  soule  and 
bodie:  for  he  tooke  him  out  of  this  miserable  world,  being 
perfect  in  sense,  understanding  and  memorie,  having  received 
all  his  sacraments  without  all  griefe  to  man’s  judgement,  and 
talking  continually  even  within  a  Pater  Noster  while  of  his 
death  so  he  gave  order  for  his  funerall,  and  named  those  that 


1  Saint  Francois  de  Paul,  whom,  Louis  off  death.  The  ruins  of  the  Minimes 
had  sent  for  to  Italy  in  the  hope  that  the  convent  which  he  established  at  Plessis- 
prayers  of  so  great  a  Saint  might  ward  les-Tours  are  still  seen  in  the  grounds. 

5  47 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


should  accompanie  his  bodie  to  the  grave;  saying  ever,  that  he 
trusted  to  die  on  no  day  but  Saturday,  and  that  our  Ladie, 
in  whom  he  had  ever  put  his  confidence,  and  alwaies  devoutly 
served,  had  purchased  him  this  grace,  and  sure  so  it  happened : 
for  he  ended  his  life  upon  Saturday  the  30  of  August  in  the 
yeere  1483,  at  eight  of  the  clocke  at  night,  in  the  said  castell 
of  Plessis,  where  he  fell  sicke  the  Monday  before.  His  soule, 
I  trust,  is  with  God,  and  resteth  in  his  blessed  realme  of  para¬ 
dise.” 

After  the  death  of  Louis  XI  Plessis-les-Tours  was  only  in¬ 
habited  by  French  sovereigns  during  their  rare  and  brief  visits 
to  Tours.  Charles  VIII  spent  most  of  his  short  reign  at  Am- 
boise,  and  Louis  XII  preferred  his  hereditary  chateau  at  Blois. 
Henry  III,  however,  when  driven  out  of  Paris  by  the  League,1 
and  with  only  Tours,  Blois  and  Beaugency  remaining  to  him, 
came  to  Plessis-les-Tours  in  March,  1589,  and  opened  his  parlia¬ 
ment  in  the  capitulary  hall  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Julien’s  in  the 
town.  On  the  30th  of  the  following  month  the  King  and  Henry 
of  Navarre  had  their  famous  interview  in  the  garden  of  Plessis, 
at  which  they  entered  into  an  alliance  against  the  League.  The 
royal  and  the  Huguenot  troops  joined  forces  and  marched  to¬ 
gether  to  put  down  the  rebellion  at  Paris,  then  in  the  hands 
of  the  Leaguers,  taking  a  number  of  towns  on  the  way.  On 
1  August  the  King  was  assassinated  at  St.  Cloud  by  a  fanatical 
monk  named  Jacques  Clement.  The  King  of  Navarre,  now 
free  to  fight  his  way  to  the  throne,  continued  to  hold  parlia- 


1  The  League  was  devised  by  the 
Guises  against  Henry  III  and  to  prevent 
the  succession  from  passing  to  Henry 
of  Navarre,  the  aspirant  favored  by  the 
King.  It  was  termed  by  its  founders  a 
“holy  league,  offensive,  defensive  and 
perpetual,  for  the  sole  teaching,  defence 


and  preservation  of  the  Catholic, 
Apostolic  and  Roman  religion ;  and  for 
the  extirpation  of  heresy  in  France  and 
the  Netherlands.”  It  excluded  the 
“heretic  Bourbons”  from  the  throne,  and 
named  the  foolish  Cardinal  de  Bourbon 
as  successor  to  Henry  III. 


ST.  PIERRE  DES  CORPS 

ments  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Julien’s  till  his  abjuration  of  protes- 
tantism  (25th  July,  1593)  opened  the  gates  of  Paris  to  him. 

This  historic  hall  is  still  standing  in  Tours  on  the  north  of 
the  church,  but  in  a  dilapidated  condition.  The  present  church, 
dating  from  the  XHIth  century,  was  badly  injured  during  the 
Revolution,  but  was  restored  by  public  subscription  in  the  last 
century.  The  altar,  furnishings  and  glass  are  all  modern,  but 
many  of  the  carved  capitals  of  the  pillars  in  the  nave  and  the 
triforium  are  ancient  and  well  preserved.  At  the  west  end 
of  the  nave,  behind  the  organ  loft,  some  traces  of  Xlth  and 
Xllth  century  paintings  can  be  seen  through  the  triforium 
arches.  They  are  on  the  wall  of  a  square  tower  rising  outside 
the  church  proper,  all  that  remains  of  an  earlier  building. 

St.  Julien’s,  lying  between  Chateauneuf  and  Tours,  was  a 
very  old  foundation,  the  nucleus  of  a  settlement  important 
enough  to  have  a  defensive  wall  of  its  own  before  it,  together 
with  all  the  other  outlying  communities,  was  gathered  into  the 
united  town  in  the  XVth  century. 

Another  of  these  suburbs  was  St.  Pierre  des  Corps,  so  named 
because  it  occupied  the  site  of  an  old  Roman  cemetery  on  the 
east  of  the  cathedral.  Progress  has  not  moved  in  this  direction 
and  it  is  a  suburb  still,  quaint,  picturesque,  deserted,  but  reached 
by  one  of  the  most  charming  strolls  in  Tours.  Beyond  the 
shady  quay,  where  no  one  seems  ever  to  go,  lie  the  wide,  tranquil 
stretches  of  the  Loire ;  the  houses,  the  further  you  advance,  grow 
ever  older  and  older,  the  gables  steeper,  the  roofs  more  mellow, 
more  lichen-grown,  more  irregular.  Now  and  again  the  side- 
streets  fade  into  mere  alley-ways,  or  end  abruptly  in  court¬ 
yards  surrounded  by  wooden  galleries  black  with  age  and 
reached  by  carved  outside  stairs.  In  this  region,  too,  the 
flowers  seem  to  grow  with  peculiar  exuberance;  every  window 

49 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

is  gay  with  them,  while  even  the  little  pine-trees  projected 
crookedly  into  the  narrow  street  to  proclaim  the  presence  of  a 
wine-shop,  though  long  since  dead  and  dry,  have  faded  into 
a  rich,  deep  brown. 

Passing  the  quaint,  sunken  church  of  St.  Pierre  des  Corps, 
with  its  rows  of  irregular  gables,  one  comes  upon  a  tiny  cottage 
in  the  rue  Avisseau,  almost  hidden  by  its  garden  wall  and 
thick  masses  of  ivy.  A  tablet  tells  that  here  Avisseau,  the 
rediscoverer  of  the  art  of  Bernard  Palissy,  was  born  in  1796. 
The  story  is  as  follows : 

Avisseau  was  a  simple  workman,  a  potter  employed  in  the 
manufacture  and  decoration  of  ordinary  earthen-ware  vessels; 
but  all  the  time,  as  he  fashioned  his  crocks  and  sauce-pans,  his 
head  was  filled  with  visions  of  the  beautiful  pottery  of  the 
XVIth  century,  until  at  length  it  became  the  fixed  dream  of 
his  life  to  discover  the  lost  secrets  of  Palissy’s  art.  Lured  on 
by  this  ambition,  he  studied  chemistry,  pored  over  old  books 
and  manuscripts,  kept  many  a  weary  vigil,  denied  himself  many 
a  necessity.  At  last,  after  twenty  years  of  patient  experi¬ 
menting,  he  had  succeeded  in  reproducing  all  of  Palissy’s  colors 
but  the  red;  that,  the  most  important  of  all,  still  eluded  him. 
Then,  one  day,  as  he  hung  over  his  crucible,  it  suddenly  flashed 
into  his  mind  that  what  was  needed  was  gold.  He  gazed  about 
him  despairingly.  Gold!  Where  was  he  to  get  enough  even 
to  prove  himself  right?  His  wife  had  been  standing  by  silently 
watching  him.  “Here,”  said  she  quietly,  “take  this!”  And 
drawing  ofif  her  wedding-ring  she  handed  it  to  him.  This 
little  act  of  self-denial  so  simply  done  set  the  crown  upon  her 
husband’s  labors;  the  experiment  was  successful  and  Avis- 
seau’s  name  will  ever  continue  to  be  held  in  honor  among  the 
Tourangeaux  so  long  as  the)'1  continue  to  produce  those  beautiful 
and  glowing  faiences  of  which  he  revealed  the  secret.  Some 

50 


VIEW  OF  TOURS  CATHEDRAL,  STONE  BRIDGE  ACROSS  THE  LOIRE 


ST.  PIERRE  DES  CORPS 

of  Avisseau’s  own  work  can  be  seen  in  the  Tours  Museum; 
wonderfully  life-like  representations  of  fish,  displayed  upon 
oblong  platters  garnished  with  little  carrots  and  turnips,  and 
dishes  of  fruit  in  which  the  color  and  form,  even  the  texture 
of  the  originals,  are  marvellously  reproduced. 

In  1682  a  street  called  the  rue  Traversaine  was  opened,  run¬ 
ning  north  and  south  through  the  center  of  Tours.  It  soon 
became  a  popular  thoroughfare  and  in  1765  plans  were  made 
to  widen  and  extend  it  on  the  south,  and  to  continue  it  on  the 
north  by  throwing  a  bridge  of  stone  across  the  Loire,  starting 
at  its  southern  extremity  from  a  fine  open  square  ornamented 
with  gardens  and  statues  and  public  buildings. 

The  bridge,  with  its  twenty-seven  stone  arches,  was  finished 
in  eleven  years,  and  the  work  of  widening  the  street,  whose 
name,  changed  then  to  Royale,  has  since  become  Nationale,  was 
helped  forward  by  the  action  of  the  Municipality,  who  under¬ 
took  to  rebuild  the  facades  of  all  the  houses  up  to  the  second 
story.  No.  39  of  this  modernized  street  is  the  birthplace  of 
Balzac.  It  is  marked  by  a  bust  and  an  inscription,  and  you 
may  read  the  one  and  observe  the  other  twenty  times  a  day 
in  passing  and  never  feel  convinced.  No  literary  association 
is  to  be  evoked  from  that  ordinary-looking  house  which,  with 
its  ordinary  fellows,  seems  entirely  at  home  among  the  neigh¬ 
boring  shops  and  hotels,  the  Credit  Lyonnais,  and  the  “Grand 
Bazaar.” 

Facing  the  Pont  de  Pierre  are  twin  buildings  in  the  style  of 
Louis  XVI.  One  of  these  is  the  Museum,  while  the  other  is 
to  receive  the  Town  Library  so  soon  as  the  completion  of  the 
elaborate  new  Hotel  de  Ville  at  the  other  end  of  the  rue 
Nationale  shall  drive  it  from  its  present  unimposing  but  emi¬ 
nently  pleasant  quarters. 

The  Library  of  Tours  was  founded  after  the  Revolution, 

53 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

mainly  on  the  libraries  of  suppressed  religious  houses,  and  con¬ 
sequently  is  especially  rich  in  theological  works.  It  possesses 
many  rare  editions  and  early  examples  of  printing,  among 
others  the  Mainz  Bible,  1462,  as  well  as  upwards  of  twelve 
hundred  valuable  manuscripts.  Among  its  treasures  are  the 
beautifully  painted  and  embossed  Livrcs  d’Hcures  of  Charles  Y 
and  of  Anne  of  Brittany,  and  the  so-called  “Charlemagne 
Bible,”  a  copy  of  the  Four  Evangels  inscribed  in  letters  of  gold 
of  the  most  exquisite  workmanship,  the  entire  two  hundred 
and  seventy  leaves  being  perfect.  It  was  upon  this  volume 
that  the  Kings  of  France  when  inducted  as  Abbots  of  St.  Mar¬ 
tin’s  took  the  oath  to  preserve  the  rights,  prerogatives  and 
privileges  of  the  Chapter. 

And  this  brings  us  back  once  more  to  those  early  days  when 
the  first  basilica  dedicated  to  Saint  Martin  was  still  standing, 
when  kings  poured  in  their  gifts  at  his  shrine,  and  when 
Touraine  was  the  rich  prize  over  which  the  neighboring  Counts 
of  Blois  and  of  Anjou  fought  and  struggled  away  their  lives; 
and  it  is  to  Loches,  the  fastness  of  this  latter  House,  that  we 
now  turn. 


54 


LOCHES 


CHAPTER  III 


LOCHES 

THE  chateau  of  Loches  stands  on  the  Indre,  about  thirty 
miles  south  of  Tours,  and  the  road,  shortly  after 
passing  the  village  of  Montbazon,  follows  the  left 
bank  of  the  stream  for  the  rest  of  the  way. 

Montbazon  takes  its  name  from  a  towering  donjon-keep 
which  you  can  see  from  the  train  crowning  a  neighbouring 
height  and  surmounted  in  modern  times  by  a  colossal  figure 
of  the  Virgin.  Dating  from  the  Xlth  century,  this  donjon, 
like  all  of  its  fellows  in  that  rough  age,  was  the  scene  of  fighting 
and  bloodshed  and  cruelty,  and  of  long,  wasting  imprisonments. 
Now,  the  roof  is  gone  and  it  is  in  ruins,  but  from  the  summit, 
placed  at  one  angle  of  the  frowning  walls,  the  brooding  figure 
of  the  Mother  of  Sorrows  seems  to  breathe  upon  the  sun-lit 
valley  a  peace  that  can  never  again  be  broken. 

As  the  train  draws  up  at  Loches  you  perceive  another  town, 
on  the  right  bank.  This  is  Beaulieu,  where  Fulk  Nerra,  the 
most  famous  of  the  counts  of  Anjou,  founded  an  Abbey  in 
the  Xlth  century,  and  where  he  himself  is  buried. 

Immediately  after  leaving  the  station  you  have  your  first 
glimpse  of  the  chateau,  a  mass  of  gray  walls  and  pointed  towers 

overhanging  the  town;  and  the  first  street  on  the  left,  a  mere 
6 


57 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

passage  between  steeply  climbing  gabled  houses,  will  lead  you 
to  its  foot. 

After  passing  under  a  low  archway,  the  road  makes  a  bend 
to  the  right  and  follows  the  line  of  the  ancient  moat  directly 
under  the  towering  walls  of  the  citadel  on  the  left,  and  the 
outer  walls  of  enceinte  on  the  right. 

Here  and  there  clumps  of  brilliant  flowers  grow  hardily  from 
some  cranny  in  the  walls  where  the  dust  has  gathered,  thick 
masses  of  ivy,  high  overhead,  glisten  in  the  sun,  and  a  stream 
of  limpid  water  rushes  down  over  the  clean,  white  stones  of 
the  gutter. 

The  effect  of  these  huge  walls  of  masonry  and  lofty  towers, 
their  enormous  solidity  and  dizzy  height,  and  then  the  utter 
peace,  the  silence  and  serenity  of  the  summer  day,  the  perfumed 
air,  the  shining  foliage,  the  indescribable  beauty  and  pictur¬ 
esqueness  of  every  stone  and  angle  upon  which  the  eye  rests, 
are  well-nigh  overpowering,  and  you  steal  silently  up  the  de¬ 
serted  street  like  a  person  in  a  dream. 

A  notice  painted  beside  tbe  gateway  at  the  top  tells  how 
M.  Cesar,  whose  garden  lies  beyond,  will  show  Messieurs  et 
Mesdames  les  touristes  the  wonderful  subterranean  galleries 
(by  far  the  most  interesting  parts  of  the  chateau)  which  he, 
M.  Cesar,  had  been  so  fortunate  as  to  discover  in  1892. 

Yielding  to  the  seductions  of  this  sign,  you  push  on  and  find 
the  Cesar  family  apparently  still  laboring  under  the  excitement 
of  the  discovery.  While  Mile,  runs  to  fetch  a  lantern,  Mme., 
standing  in  the  middle  of  the  path,  tells  you  all  about  it.  How 
a  German  lady  came  one  day  and  asked  to  be  shown  the  under¬ 
ground  passages.  “But  there  are  none,”  they  told  her.  Where¬ 
upon  she  insisted,  she  had  read  about  them  in  an  old  book  and 
they  led  out  in  this  direction.  She,  Madame,  had  not  believed 


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LOCHES 


a  word  of  it,  but  M.  Cesar  had  said:  “Tiens,  let  us  dig!”  and 
so  he  had  poked  about  and  dug,  and  at  last  one  day-— Voila ! 
he  had  found  some  steps  and  an  archway,  all  choked  up,  of 
course,  but  there  they  were  and  the  galleries  just  as  the  German 
lady  had  said. 

M.  Cesar  joins  jovially  in  the  recital,  quite  as  though  it  all 
had  happened  yesterday  and  this  were  the  first  time  of 
telling.  Then  he  adds  his  two  words  of  English -—“Ver .  r .  ry 
intr.  .r.  .sting”— and  Mile.  Cesar  comes  with  the  lantern  and 
acts  as  your  guide. 

They  are  indeed  interesting,  these  vaulted  passages,  wonder¬ 
fully  constructed,  with  walls  as  fresh  and  dry  as  though  but 
lately  finished.  They  connect  the  citadel  with  the  open  country 
beyond,  and  were  used  to  provision  it  in  times  of  siege.  When 
or  why  they  were  walled  up  as  seen  to-day  is  not  known. 

As  you  come  out  again  into  the  sunshine  and  sweet  air,  you 
get  your  first  sight  of  the  donjon,  the  top  of  it,  frowning  darkly 
over  the  massive  tours-a-bec1  of  the  second  wall  of  enceinte, 
and  at  once  you  begin  to  think  of  Fulk  Nerra.  For  the  person¬ 
ality  of  this  man,  the  very  embodiment  of  the  dark  spirit  of 
the  feudal  age,  was  so  strong  that  even  now,  after  a  period  of 
nearly  nine  centuries  has  elapsed,  his  name  is  a  household  word 
in  Touraine. 

Loches  (the  word  has  the  same  derivation  as  the  Scottish 
“loch”)  came  into  Fulk  Nerra’s  family  in  886  as  the  marriage 
portion  of  the  bride  of  his  great-grandfather,  the  first  Count 
of  Anjou.  Fulk  Nerra,  violent  and  ruthless  and  possessed  by 
a  devouring  ambition,  made  it  the  base  of  his  operations  in 
a  campaign  for  the  conquest  of  Touraine,  which  lasted  inter- 

1  Rounded  towers  terminating  in  front  in  sharp  angles,  from  which  cannon  balls 

will  glance  aside. 

61 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


mittently  throughout  most  of  his  life  (973-1040)  and  which 
he  bequeathed  to  his  son  to  complete,  and  it  is  generally  be¬ 
lieved  that  Fulk  built  the  two  square  towers  which  compose 
the  donjon. 

The  lofty  chalk  plateau  on  which  it  stands  commands  the 
valley  of  the  Indre,  a  strong  position  occupied  from  earliest 
times  by  a  fortress  of  some  sort.  There  are,  or  were,  for  in 
many  places  they  have  disappeared,  three  lines  of  enclosing 
walls,  and  a  gateway  on  the  south  which  has  been  walled 
up.  Through  it  Marie  de  Medicis  is  said  to  have  passed  under 
the  escort  of  the  Duke  of  Tpernon,  the  Governor  of  the  castle, 
after  her  escape  from  Blois  (February,  1619).  One  of  the 
massive  supports  of  the  drawbridge  is  still  standing,  however, 
and  disproves  the  local  tradition  that  Fpernon  had  the  whole 
constructed  in  the  course  of  a  single  night  in  order  to  facilitate 
the  Queen's  entry. 

Passing  by  this  gateway  you  reach  the  present  entrance  from 
which  a  narrow,  sunny  street  leads  up  to  the  highest  level  of 
the  plateau,  where,  at  the  further  end  of  a  thickly  planted  avenue 
of  poplars,  a  gate  admits  to  the  innermost  enclosure  of  the 
citadel  and  to  the  immediate  and  overpowering  vicinity  of  the 
donjon. 

You  enter  first  a  low,  XIVth  century  addition  built  to  provide 
a  Guard  room  close  to  what  was  formerly  the  drawbridge  and 
main  gateway.  Flere  are  some  clumsy  manger-like  construc¬ 
tions  said  to  be  the  bedsteads  of  the  Scottish  guard. 

In  an  inner  room  there  is  a  cell  formed  by  barring  ofif  the 
embrasure  of  a  window  where,  we  are  told,  Philippe  de  Corn- 
mines  composed  a  part  of  his  Memoires.  It  is  not  a  commodious 
apartment,  certainly,  but  in  the  matter  of  light  and  air,  at  least, 
it  has  the  advantage  over  that  black  closet  in  the  Tower  of 

62 


LOCHES 

London  in  which  the  Tower  warders  would  have  us  believe 
that  Raleigh  wrote  his  “History  of  the  World.” 

Even  in  its  present  ruined  and  roofless  state,  the  great  grey 
mass  of  the  donjon  rises  to  a  height  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  above  the  ground.  The  floors  are  all  gone  and  an  outside 
stair  leads  to  a  doorway  on  the  second  floor,  formerly,  probably, 
reached  only  by  ladder.  The  gaping  roof  lets  in  plenty  of  light 
and  it  is  easy  to  make  out  the  divisions  of  the  different  stories, 
the  inside  stairway,  and,  high  overhead,  a  little  oratory,  the 
chapel  of  Saint  Salle-boeuf,  whose  renown  has  disappeared  even 
more  completely  than  this  shrine  once  dedicated  to  him.  The 
altar  is  still  there  and  some  traces  of  red  and  yellow  frescoes 
can  be  seen  clinging  to  the  ruined  wall. 

Formerly  the  two  towers  which  compose  the  donjon  had  no 
communication  below  the  main  floor,  but  an  opening  knocked 
in  the  party-wall  of  the  cellars  now  enables  one  to  pass  through 
to  the  larger  tower.  Here,  too,  the  floors  have  all  disappeared ; 
while  the  massive  walls,  which  shut  out  the  sunlight  and  pre¬ 
serve  an  eternal  moisture,  have  clothed  themselves  with  festoons 
of  ferns,  of  maiden-hair,  of  delicate  trailing  vines  and  velvety 
moss.  The  light,  drifting  down  from  the  roofless  height,  is 
cool  and  green,  the  profound  silence  is  broken  only  by  the  cries 
of  the  rooks  circling  and  swooping  in  black  flocks  about  the 
summit,  where,  across  the  deep  blue  square  of  sky,  white  clouds 
drive  in  quick  succession. 

Seen  in  its  present  condition,  the  donjon  of  Loches  is  hardly 
a  gay  or  smiling  abode ;  what  then  must  it  have  been  in  the  day 
of  its  prime,  with  floors  and  windows  intact  and  depending  for 
light  and  air  upon  loopholes  in  those  thick  walls!  Yet,  it  was 
no  doubt  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  character  of  its  builder. 

Fulk  Nerra  was  one  of  those  persons  about  whose  memory 

63 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


stories  and  legends  inevitably  gather.  He  was  one  of  the 
greatest  soldiers  and  builders  of  his  age,  and  he  was  equally 
famous  for  his  ungovernable  passions,  for  his  cruelty  and 
tyranny  and  for  his  boisterous  repentances.  His  only  son, 
Geoffrey  Martel,  rebelled  against  his  father’s  stern  rule  and 
the  struggle  lasted  four  years;  finally  the  son  was  conquered, 
and  Fulk  required  him  to  walk  for  miles  saddled  like  a  beast 
of  burden  and  at  the  end  to  sue  for  pardon  prostrate  upon  the 
ground.  “So,”  he  remarked  complacently,  as  he  placed  his  foot 
upon  his  son’s  head,  “I  have  downed  you  at  last!”  “Yes,  you 
have,”  said  the  other,  “but  you  are  the  only  man  living  who 
could  have  done  it.” 

In  1016,  in  the  course  of  his  struggle  for  Touraine,  Fulk’s 
forces  and  those  of  Odo,  Count  of  Blois,  met  in  the  plain  of 
Pontlevoi.  There  was  a  fearful  battle,  in  which  Fulk  was 
worsted;  just  as  he  was  about  to  retreat,  however,  reinforce¬ 
ments  arrived,  the  cavalry  of  Count  Odo  was  driven  from  the 
field  and  his  foot  left  defenceless.  Instantly  falling  upon  these, 
Fulk  massacred  them  to  the  number  of  three  thousand,  a  huge 
figure  for  the  battles  of  those  days.  This  “murder  of  Chris¬ 
tians,”  as  it  was  termed,  created  a  scandal  throughout. France, 
and  even  in  other  countries  it  was  spoken  of  as  a  blot  upon  the 
reign  of  King  Robert  the  Pious. 

This,  and  many  other  acts  of  savagery,  sent  the  Count  of 
Anjou  off  some  twenty  years  later  on  his  last  pilgrimage  to 
the  Floly  Land.  No  one  was  ever  more  solicitous  for  the  sal¬ 
vation  of  his  own  soul,  and  he  had  already  twice  made  that  long 
and  weary  journey.  On  one  of  these  occasions  he  is  described 
as  having  had  himself  dragged  half  naked  through  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem,  calling  upon  Christ  to  “have  mercy  upon 
a  traitor,”  while  a  servant  walked  on  either  hand  scourging 


CHATEAU  OF  LOCHES  :  THE  RENAISSANCE  BUILDINGS 
SEEN  FROM  THE  TOWN 


w& 


11111111 


'SBmm 


LOCHES 


him  with  a  whip ;  and  he  brought  back,  as  a  gift  for  the  church 
at  Loches,  a  piece  of  the  true  Cross  which  he  tore  off  with 
his  teeth! 

His  faith  in  the  power  of  the  saints  and  of  holy  relics  was  in¬ 
deed  almost  incredible,  yet  his  treatment  of  them  was  strangely 
irreverent.  In  1025,  after  taking  the  town  of  Saumur  from  the 
Count  of  Blois, — it  was  still  the  struggle  for  Touraine, — he 
pillaged  and  set  fire  to  it,  the  monastery  of  St.  Florent  being 
burned  with  the  rest.  Fulk  implored  the  Saint  “not  to  mind” 
and  promised  to  raise  a  much  finer  building  in  his  honor  at 
Angers.  The  relics  were  accordingly  placed  in  a  boat  to  be 
transported  down  the  Loire,  but  the  rowers  found  that  they 
could  not  advance  an  inch,  try  as  they  might.  The  Count  of 
Anjou,  all  unused  to  opposition,  became  very  angry;  he  called 
Saint  Florent  an  ungodly  boor  to  prefer  a  place  like  Saumur 
to  a  large  and  handsome  town  like  Angers;  yet  he  was  afraid 
to  persist,  and  the  rejoicing  monks  were  allowed  to  keep  their 
relics. 

Fulk’s  fame  as  a  builder  is  almost  as  great  as  his  fame  as 
a  soldier.  A  dozen  walled  towns  and  as  many  castles  are 
attributed  to  him,  as  well  as  eleven  churches  and  other  religious 
foundations.  The  former  were  in  pursuit  of  his  undeviating 
policy  of  building  up  a  great  and  enduring  state  for  his  house, 
the  latter  were  given  in  expiation  of  his  various  crimes,  some¬ 
times  paid  in  advance,  as  it  were,  for  crimes  still  uncommitted. 
For  fifty-three  years,  from  the  time  that  the  death  of  his  father, 
Grisegonelle,  put  him  in  power,  until  his  own  death  at  the 
age  of  sixty-seven,  he  fought  and  schemed  and  sinned  and  re¬ 
pented,  a  very  scourge  to  his  neighbors  and  by  turns  the  terror 
and  delight  of  the  Church.  At  last,  about  the  year  1038,  he 
undertook  his  third  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  on  his 

67 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

way  home  he  died.  His  body  was  brought  back  to  Loches 
and  buried  in  the  Abbey  Church  at  Beaulieu,  which  he  had 
himself  founded  in  1007.  After  being  lost  sight  of  for  hundreds 
of  years,  the  tomb  was  rediscovered  in  1870.  In  it  were  found 
a  square,  low-browed  skull,  two  jaw-bones  with  their  full  com¬ 
plement  of  teeth,  and  a  handful  of  bones;  and  that  is  all  we 
have  from  which  to  construct  a  portrait  of  this  redoubtable 
man,  one  of  the  great  figures  of  his  age  and  the  true  founder 
of  the  glory  of  the  House  of  Anjou. 

Geoffrey  Martel,  his  son,  was  born  at  Loches  and  nursed 
there  by  the  blacksmith’s  wife,  from  which  circumstance  he 
got  his  name  of  the  Hammer.  His  father  left  him  master  of 
Anjou,  Loudun,  Saintonge,  and  a  part  of  Berry,  but  Touraine, 
the  darling  object  of  alT  the  old  count’s  schemes,  was  only  won 
when  Geoffrey  had  conquered  Tours  and  Le  Mans.  Geoffrey 
left  no  children,  but  his  sister  Ermengarde,  who  had  married 
the  Vicomte  d’Orleans  or  de  Gatinais,  had  two  sons  who  suc¬ 
ceeded.  These  two  quarrelled  over  their  inheritance  until  the 
younger,  Fulk  le  Rechin,  or  the  Surly,  completely  defeated  his 
brother,  whom  he  imprisoned  in  the  donjon  of  Chinon  for 
nearly  thirty  years.1  Meanwhile  the  Rechin  lived  riotously, 
misgoverned  the  country,  and  married  and  divorced  four  wives 
in  succession.  The  fifth,  Bertrade  de  Montfort,  a  beautiful 
and  dissolute  woman  of  whom  he  is  said  to  have  been  dotingly 
fond,  so  fascinated  the  King,  Philip  I,  that  he  repudiated  his 
own  wife  in  order  to  marry  her  and  was  excommunicated  in 
consequence.  This  lady,  having  failed  in  an  attempt  to  obtain 
the  crown  of  France  for  her  own  son  by  making  away  with 
Philip’s  son  by  his  first  wife,  after  the  King’s  death  once  more 
turned  her  attention  to  the  affairs  of  Anjou.  She  went  back 


1  See  page  1x3 

68 


LOCHES 


to  her  former  husband,  the  Rechin,  who  received  her  gladly, 
poisoned  his  son  Geoffrey,  a  youth  of  remarkable  promise,  and 
had  the  satisfaction  of  obtaining  the  succession  for  a  son  of 
her  own,  Fulk  V,  le  Jeune,  who  became  Count  of  Anjou  on  his 
father’s  death  a  few  years  later.  It  was  the  marriage  of  this 
Fulk’s  son,  Geoffrey,  surnamed  Plantagenet,  from  his  habit 
of  wearing  a  sprig  of  broom  ( planta  genesta )  in  his  cap,  to  the 
ex-Empress  Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  I  of  England,  that 
eventually  brought  the  throne  of  England  and  the  Duchy  of 
Normandy  to  the  House  of  Anjou,  which  in  the  meanwhile  by 
another  marriage  had  added  Aquitaine  to  its  already  vast  pos¬ 
sessions.  These  events,  however,  are  more  nearly  connected 
with  the  history  of  Chinon  than  with  that  of  Loches,  which, 
after  Geoffrey  Martel’s  time,  saw  but  little  of  its  Counts. 

In  1193  the  French  King,  Philip  Augustus,  taking  advantage 
of  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion’s  imprisonment  in  Germany  by  the 
Emperor,  Henry  VI,  possessed  himself  of  Loches ;  but  Richard 
escaped,  and  in  June  of  the  following  year  he  is  besieging  his 
own  castle  of  Loches  with  such  fury  that  that  well-nigh  im¬ 
pregnable  stronghold  is  captured  in  a  violent  assault  of  three 
hours.  On  his  death  five  years  later,  Coeur-de-Lion  bequeathed 
Loches  as  a  part  of  the  portion  of  his  Queen,  Berangaria,  but 
this  did  not  prevent  his  brother,  John  Lackland,  from  seizing  it. 

In  March,  1202,  Philip  Augustus  summoned  King  John  to 
resign  to  his  nephew,  Prince  Arthur  of  Brittany,  the  Provinces 
of  Anjou,  Poitou  and  Normandy,  reminding  him  at  the  same 
time  that  he  was  liege-man  to  the  King  of  France.  John  re¬ 
fused,  and  when  the  case  was  heard  he  failed  to  appear,  where¬ 
upon  the  French  Courts  declared  all  the  lands  which  either  he 
or  his  predecessors  had  held  in  fief  from  the  King  of  France 
to  be  forfeit,  “for  having  scorned  to  render  to  his  sovereign 


THE  CHATEAUX  OE  TGURAINE 

most  of  the  services  which,  as  a  vassal,  he  owed  him,  and  for 
having  constantly  disobeyed  his  orders.” 

In  the  following  year  rumors  of  the  murder  of  young  Arthur 
of  Brittany  began  to  circulate.  The  facts  have  never  been  fully 
known,  but  it  was  said  that  the  King  of  England  had  done 
his  nephew  to  death  with  his  own  hand  at  Rouen,  and  had  then 
thrown  the  body  into  the  Seine  with  a  stone  tied  around  the 
neck,  notwithstanding  which  precaution  it  had  been  found  later 
by  a  fisherman  and  had  been  buried  at  Bee.  That  was  why 
King  John  had  gone  back  to  England. 

Nothing  could  have  furthered  Philip  Augustus’s  schemes 
better  than  this  crime.  It  gave  him  another  pretext  for  keeping 
Anjou,  Maine,  most  of  Touraine  and  a  part  of  Berry,  which 
he  already  held  in  the  name  of  Arthur  of  Brittany,  and  for 
taking  the  rest.  In  his  triumphant  campaign  of  1204-5  almost 
the  only  places  to  offer  a  serious  resistance  were  Chinon  and 
Loches.  These  held  out  for  nearly  a  year  and  the  latter,  under 
the  command  of  Gerard  d’Athes,  flit  par  le  Roy  assiegee,  lequel 
y  ayant  fait  une  grande  et  cruelle  batterie,  Vemporta,  y  prenant 
qnclqiies  six  vingts  soldats  et  le  susdict  Gerard.  When  the  place 
fell  at  last,  it  was  found  to  be  almost  in  ruins,  only  the  collegiate 
church  was  unhurt.  Philip  Augustus  repaired  the  fortifica¬ 
tions  and  put  the  castle  into  a  state  of  defence,  and  since  that 
day  Loches  has  never  ceased  to  belong  either  directly  or  in  fief 
to  the  Crown  or  the  State. 

By  the  beginning  of  the  XVth  century  Fulk  Nerra’s  donjon, 
so  formidable  in  its  time,  was  completely  out  of  date,  and  had 
to  be  remodelled.  Under  Charles  VI,  Charles  VII  and  Louis 
XI  the  Martelet  tower  and  the  Tour  Ronde  were  built,  a  Guard 
house  was  added  to  the  donjon,  and  the  tours-d-bec  were  low¬ 
ered  and  fitted  for  cannon.  By  the  time  all  this  was  completed, 

70 


howev-  iav  al  architecture  was  nearly  over,  under 

Char  he  (  u  surrounded  by  v  f  ts  own  and 

'  ■  'ed  to  deiend  ••  • 

jjioonu  hK  <  tl  del  became  a  pr  .  a  aarracks, 
u. .  ;  '  la  Renaissance  palace  at  t  other 

rml  -  /i  ivu  rs 

rounded  <n  t  it  ounted  by  a  ar.  roof, 


wii  u '  ing  stair  and  A  'a  underground  apart - 
dore-roi  the  first  floor  is  the 

zontal  iron  either  cn  ston  pillar, 

. 

the  prisoner  fa 

;  on-  •  ,  .  it 

in  sot  htiw  oaa-A^uoT 

he  ’  hea 

with  which 

. 

also,  probably  ,  in  this  room  tl  n  cs  je  in  hich  Louis 

XI  shut  up  Cardinal  la  Baluc  I  :se  ca  ges  were  an 

invention  of  Guillaume  de  Hara 


according  to  Philippe  66  Cornu 

merits.  The  Bishop  and  his  fri  m  Bail 

ning  his  career  as  an  obscure 

through  the  King's  recon  net 

>  M,  Edmond  Gautier,  who  tv  u  V  .  -  e-.T 

buildings  of-  the  citadel-  the  ob  • ; 


TOURS-A-BEC  WITH  TOP  OF  FULK  NERRA’S  DONJON  AT  LOCHES 


LOCHES 


however,  the  day  of  feudal  architecture  was  nearly  over.  Under 
Charles  VII  the  town  was  surrounded  by  walls  of  its  own  and 
for  the  future  was  expected  to  defend  itself  from  attack;  the 
gloomy  buildings  of  the  citadel  became  a  prison  and  barracks, 
and  the  King  began  to  build  a  Renaissance  palace  at  the  other 
end  of  the  plateau. 

Of  the  older  buildings  the  Tour  Ronde,  or  Tour  Louis  XI, 
as  it  is  now  usually  called,  is  the  chief.  This  is  a  lofty  tower 
rounded  on  the  outer  side  and  surmounted  by  a  square  roof, 
with  a  little  sharply  peaked  cupola.  There  are  three  floors 
connected  by  a  winding  stair  and  a  large  underground  apart¬ 
ment  probably  used  as  a  store-room.  On  the  first  floor  is  the 
torture-chamber,  spacious  and  not  uncheerful.  A  heavy  hori¬ 
zontal  iron  bar  embedded  at  either  end  in  a  solid  stone  pillar, 
and  furnished  with  iron  rings,  is  shown  as  the  device  for  keeping 
the  prisoner  fast  while  the  torture  was  being  administered; 
and  the  custodian,  pointing  to  a  great  stone  fire-place,  tells  that 
“this  is  where  they  heated  the  oil.”  A  dozen  or  so  pallet-beds 
with  which  the  room  is  now  furnished  are  for  tramps — “vaga¬ 
bonds,”  who  are  kept  here  during  the  winter  months.  It  was 
also,  probably,  in  this  room  that  the  famous  cage  in  which  Louis 
XI  shut  up  Cardinal  la  Balue  stood.1  These  cages  were  an 
invention  of  Guillaume  de  Haraucourt,  Bishop  of  Verdun,  who, 
according  to  Philippe  de  Commines,  was  the  first  to  test  their 
merits.  The  Bishop  and  his  friend,  Jean  la  Balue,  who,  begin¬ 
ning  his  career  as  an  obscure  country  cure,  had  been  advanced 
through  the  King’s  recommendation  to  be  a  Councillor  of  State 


1 M.  Edmond  Gautier,  who  made  the 
buildings  of  the  citadel  the  object  of 
years  of  study,  says  that  one  of  the  two 
cages  at  Loches  was  kept  in  the  room 
above  the  old  gate-way  and  the  other 
in  the  main  room  of  the  Tour  Ronde. 


Neither  of  them,  he  thinks,  was  ever 
suspended,  and  ranks  as  pure  invention 
the  statement  that  La  Balue’s  cage  hung 
from  some  staples  seen  in  the  under¬ 
ground  apartment.  See  “Histoire  du 
Donjon  de  Loches,”  Edmond  Gautier. 


73 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


and  then  a  Cardinal,  had  been  discovered  in  treasonable  cor¬ 
respondence  with  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  There  was  no  trial, 
but  there  was  plenty  of  proof.  The  two  churchmen  were  seized 
and  imprisoned,  and  La  Balue  was  confined  for  eleven  years 
and  the  Bishop  for  fourteen.  The  cage  in  which  the  former 
spent  a  part  of  his  term  was  of  the  size  of  a  small  cell,  it 
was  made  of  stout  wooden  bars  heavily  clamped  with  iron, 
and  was  designed  primarily  to  make  all  attempt  at  escape  impos¬ 
sible. 

The  idea  appealed  irresistibly  to  Louis,  he  would  have  liked 
to  provide  cages  for  all  his  prisoners,  and,  when  writing 
to  the  Bastard  of  Bourbon,  Admiral  of  France,  with  regard 
to  the  custody  of  the  Seneschal  of  Guyenne,  he  enclosed  a  sketch, 
with  the  suggestion  that  it  might  be  well  to  have  one  made  like 
it.  The  Admiral  was  so  affronted  that  he  returned  word  that 
if  that  were  the  King’s  idea  of  how  a  prisoner  should  be  kept 
he  might  take  charge  of  this  one  himself.  La  Balue  spent  three 
years  at  Loches  and  was  then  removed  to  Montbazon. 

Another  tenant  of  one  of  the  cages  at  Loches — we  have  it 
on  his  own  authority — was  the  historian  and  favorite  of  Louis 
XI,  Philip  de  Commines.  For  some  years  after  King  Louis’s 
death  Commines  continued  in  the  good  graces  of  the  Regent, 
Anne  de  Beaujeu.  In  i486,  however,  he  joined  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  in  a  plot  to  overthrow  the  Beaujeu  government,  and 
was  seized  and  shut  up  in  La  Balue’s  cage  at  Loches. 

“Moreover,  the  King  had  caused  divers  cruel  prisons  to  be 
made,  as,  for  example,  cages  being  eight  foote  square,  and  one 
foote  more  than  a  man’s  height,  some  of  iron,  and  some  of  wood, 
plated  with  iron  both  within  and  without  with  horrible  iron 
works.  He  that  first  devised  them  was  the  Bishop  of  Verdun, 
who  incontinent  was  himselfe  put  into  the  first  that  was  made, 

74 


LOCHES 


where  he  remained  fowerteen  yeeres.  Many  have  cursed  him 
for  his  devise,  and  among  others  my  selfe,  for  I  lay  in  one  of 
them  under  the  King  that  now  reigneth  the  space  of  eight 
moneths.”1 

In  1790,  at  a  meeting  of  the  “Patriotic  and  Literary  Society” 
of  Loches,  one  of  the  members  moved  for  the  destruction  of 
this  “relic  of  despotism  and  slavery.”  The  resolution  was 
adopted  with  enthusiasm  and  emotion.  The  wood,  except  for 
a  few  pieces  reserved  for  the  bonfire  of  the  succeeding  14th  July, 
was  given  to  the  poor  and  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  the 
iron  as  well.  The  original  and  more  sentimental  idea  had  been 
that  these  should  form  a  fund  for  the  widows  and  children  of 
the  “conquerors  of  the  Bastille.” 

Under  Louis  XIV,  and  again  under  the  first  Napoleon,  many 
prisoners  of  war  were  confined  in  the  Tour'Ronde.  The  walls 
of  the  stairway  and  of  the  rooms  on  the  upper  floors  are  covered 
with  inscriptions  and  rude  frescoes  and  figures  cut  in  the  stone, 
records  of  these  and  of  still  earlier  captives.  The  stair  leads 
out  on  the  roof  which,  surrounded  by  a  low  stone  balustrade, 
forms  a  sort  of  terrace  and  commands  a  wide  and  lovely  view. 

Directly  in  front  on  the  east  rises  the  square,  grey  mass  of 
Fulk  Nerra’s  donjon;  south  of  it  are,  first,  the  inner  line  of 
enceinte  and  then  the  second  line  with  its  three  great  tours-a-bec. 
Within  these  last  is  the  Martelet,  and  beyond  them  are  the 
rounded  heights  of  Bel  Ebat  and  Vignemont.  On  the  west 
are  the  shining  slate  roofs  and  white  walls  of  the  modern  town, 
the  sharp  summits  of  the  ancient  gate  de  Picois,  the  Tour  St. 
Antoine,  formerly  the  town  belfry,  and  the  Porte  des  Cordeliers. 
Beyond  the  Porte  de  Picois  there  is  a  shimmering  glimpse  of 
the  Indre,  winding  its  leisurely  way  amidst  harvest  fields  and 

1  Danett’s  Commines.  The  Tudor  Translations,  XVIII. 

75 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


fruitful  orchards.  Between  the  town  and  the  citadel  a  thick 
line  of  foliage  marks  the  line  of  the  moat.  On  the  extreme 
northeast  are  the  steep  slate  roof  and  pointed  tourelles  of  the 
chateau,  and  nearer,  in  a  line  with  it,  a  row  of  singular  pointed 
domes  marks  the  ancient  collegiate  church  of  Notre  Dame,  now 
called  St.  Ours.  Further  west  and  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
completely  hidden  at  this  point  by  trees,  a  tall,  pointed  tower 
belongs  to  the  ancient  abbey  of  Beaulieu,  the  burial-place  of 
Fulk  Nerra. 

It  is  below  the  Martelet  that  the  dungeons  are  found  which, 
associated  as  they  have  been  in  the  popular  fancy  with  Louis 
Xlth’s  sardonic  cruelties,  have.given  Loches  such  an  evil  name. 
Guided  by  a  custodian  with  a  lighted  lantern,  the  visitor 
descends  thirty-eight  steps  of  winding  stair  and  emerges  in  a 
good-sized  room  lighted  from  a  narrow  slit  in  the  nine-feet- 
thick  wall.  This  slit,  however,  opens  only  on  the  stair  and 
receives  its  light  from  a  window  in  the  outer  wall.  Built  on 
the  extreme  edge  of  the  plateau,  the  substructures  of  the  Mar¬ 
telet  are  cut  out  of  the  rock  itself.  Thus,  while  from  the  inner 
side  the  dungeons  seem  to  lie  far  below  ground,  their  outer 
walls  are  simply  a  continuation  of  the  sheer  rock,  and  their 
windows  facing  west  are  actually  far  above  the  level  of  the 
moat. 

This  first  room  is  the  one  in  which  Ludovico  Sforza,  Duke 
of  Milan,  called  the  Moor,  was  confined  for  many  years  by 
Louis  XII.  The  King  himself  had  a  strong  claim  upon  the 
Duchy  of  Milan  through  the  marriage  contract  of  his  grand¬ 
mother,  Valentine  Visconti,  daughter  of  Duke  Galeas  I;  and 
he  made  a  point  of  always  referring  to  Ludovico  Sforza  as 
“Monsieur  Ludovico.”  In  1499  the  Venetians  and  French 
formed  an  alliance  against  the  Milanese,  and  in  April  of  the 


TOURS-A-BEC,  FULK  NERRA’S  DONJON,  AND  TOUR  RONDE  OR 

TOUR  LOUIS  XI 


rial-place  of 

1/  1 


LOCHES 


following-  year  the  Moor,  betrayed  by  his  Swiss  mercenaries, 
was  taken  prisoner  at  Novaro  before  a  blow  had  been  struck. 
Louis  was  wild  with  delight  when  he  heard  the  news ;  the  chief 
object  of  the  campaign  had  been  accomplished  with  the  capture 
of  the  Duke  and  his  only  fear  now  was  lest  the  prisoner  might 
escape.  He  despatched  message  after  message  to  his  lieutenant, 
La  Tremoille,  urging  him  to  send  his  prize  to  France  without 
delay,  “for,”  said  he,  “I  shall  not  have  a  moment’s  peace  till 
the  said  Ludovico  is  safely  landed  on  this  side  of  the  mountains.” 
A  cage  was  sent  to  the  frontier  to  receive  him,  and  in  it  he  was 
conveyed  to  Loches. 

The  Moor,  although  he  is  said  to  have  cleared  his  way  to 
power  by  poisoning  his  nephew  and  sending  the  latter’s  son  to 
the  monastery  of  Marmoutier,  where  he  died,  was  nevertheless 
an  excellent  ruler  and  a  liberal  patron  of  the  fine  arts.  On  the 
walls  of  his  dreary  prison  can  still  be  seen  a  quite  elaborate 
series  of  frescoes  painted  by  him  during  the  long  years  of  his 
confinement,  and  there  is  also  a  primitive  little  sun-dial  which 
he  fashioned  on  the  only  spot  of  wall  on  which  the  sun  ever 
strikes.  By  devices  such  as  these  he  may  have  saved  his 
reason,  but  his  health  at  length  broke  down  and  he  was  re¬ 
moved  to  a  lighter  and  more  airy  apartment,  probably  in  the 
Tour  Ronde.  Before  long,  however,  he  died,  having  passed 
eight  years  in  captivity,  and  was  buried  in  the  collegiate  church 
“with  all  the  honors  due  to  a  Prince.”  Subsequently  his  body 
was  taken  back  to  Italy. 

Nineteen  steps  below  Sforza’s  prison  is  another,  much  the 
same  both  in  size  and  appearance.  Here  the  slit  of  window 
commands  only  a  tiny  section  of  sky  and  a  glimpse  of  waving 
branches.  The  edge  of  the  deep  sill,  widening  out  on  the  inside, 
is  five  feet  or  more  from  the  floor  and  below  it  and  on  the  sill 

79 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

itself  are  hollow  places  worn  in  the  stone  by  the  hands  and 
feet  of  human  creatures  who,  through  weary  years  of  captivity, 
have  climbed  and  clutched  and  clung  to  snatch  the  last  faint 
glow  in  the  western  sky  before  the  interminable  night  should 
settle  down  upon  them  once  more. 

All  around  this  room  at  intervals  appear  the  words  Jhesus 
Maria  painfully  cut  in  the  stone,  and,  directly  opposite  the 
window,  is  a  pathetic  little  attempt  at  an  altar  with  a  cross 
carved  above  it  and  a  credence-table,  scooped  out  of  the  wall. 

“The  cell  of  the  Bishops”  is  the  name  by  which  this  room  is 
known,  for  it  is  here  that  the  Bishops  of  Puy  and  Autun  were 
confined  by  Francis  I  in  1523.  The  King,  on  the  eve  of  de¬ 
parture  to  resume  the  war  in  Italy,  was  informed  by  the  Grand 
Seneschal  of  Normandy,  the  husband  of  Diane  of  Poitiers,  of 
a  gigantic  conspiracy  headed  by  the  Constable  de  Bourbon  to 
betray  France  into  the  hands  of  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  The 
Constable,  warned  in  time,  managed  to  escape,  but  most  of  his 
accomplices  were  taken,  among  them  the  two  Bishops  and  Jean 
of  Poitiers,  Sieur  de  Saint- Vallier,  Diane’s  father.  When  the 
Grand  Seneschal  discovered  that  his  father-in-law  was  among 
the  prisoners  he  was  horrified,  and  tried  hard  to  obtain  his 
release.  Saint-Vallier  on  his  side  wrote  the  most  appealing 
letters,  imploring  the  Seneschal  to  come  to  Loches  to  consult 
as  to  what  had  best  be  done,  or,  if  he  could  not  come  himself, 
to  send  his  wife.  He  declares  “on  the  damnation  of  his  soul” 
that  he  has  been  arrested  for  no  reason  whatever,  and  shut 
up  like  a  false  traitor.  Then  he  addresses  himself  to  his  daugh¬ 
ter  :  “I  implore  you  to  have  pity  on  your  poor  father,  and  come 
to  see  me.  My  only  hope  lies  in  your  husband  and  in  you,”  and 
so  on.  Meantime  a  commission  had  been  appointed  to  try  the 
case;  it  met  first  at  Loches,  but  in  December  the  prisoners  were 

80 


LOCHES 


taken  to  Paris,  where  Saint-Vallier  was  condemned  to  death 
and  all  his  property  confiscated.  All  the  while  his  son-in-law 
never  ceased  his  efforts,  and,  at  last,  when  the  prisoner  had 
actually  been  led  to  the  scaffold,  the  King  commuted  the  sentence 
to  imprisonment  for  life  “in  consideration  of  the  service  ren¬ 
dered  by  the  Seneschal  of  Normandy  in  exposing  the  plot.” 

A  story,  without  any  foundation  in  fact,  that  the  fair  Diana 
bought  her  father’s  reprieve  as  the  price  of  her  honor,  has 
been  fixed  in  the  public  mind  by  Victor  Hugo’s  Le  Roi 
s’  Amuse,  in  which  Saint-Vallier  is  made  to  address  the  King 
in  a  speech  full  of  dignity  and  scathing  contempt.  It  concludes : 

Sire,  je  ne  viens  pas  vous  demander  ma  fille. 

Quand  on  n’a  plus  d’honneur,  on  n’a  plus  de  famille; 

Qu’elle  vous  aime  ou  non  d’un  amour  insense, 

Je  n’ai  rien  a  reprendre  ou  la  honte  a  passe : 

Gardez-la ! 

A  special  clause  in  the  treaty  of  Madrid  forced  by  Charles  V 
upon  Francis  I  in  1526  provided  that  all  those  concerned  in 
Bourbon’s  plot  should  be  pardoned.  So,  after  three  years’ 
imprisonment,  the  Sieur  of  Poitiers  was  liberated,  his  health 
completely  shattered,  however,  and  his  hair  whitened,  it  is  said, 
in  a  single  night,  that  preceding  the  day  set  for  his  execution. 

Beyond  the  prison  of  the  Bishops  and  Saint-Vallier  is  an 
inner  one  connected  with  it  by  a  short  passage  and  without 
window  of  any  kind.  A  square  hole  at  one  side  is  pointed  out  as 
an  oubliette,  but  it  opens  into  the  cellar  below  and  was  certainly 
never  used  for  the  sinister  purpose  implied  in  the  name.  Viollet- 
le-Duc,  says,  indeed,  that  he  knew  of  but  three  oubliettes  in  all 
France  to  which  the  name  could  have  been  applied  with  any 
degree  of  plausibility:  those  at  Chinon,  the  Bastille  and  at 
Pierrefonds,  while  in  his  own  opinion  of  these  three  that  at 

8  81 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


Pierrefonds  alone  was  a  veritable  oubliette.  He  believes,  more¬ 
over,  that  the  vulgar  conception  of  the  character  of  the  prisons 
of  ancient  France  is  quite  erroneous: 

“Both  the  number  and  the  horror  of  these  places  of 
confinement  during  the  Middle  Ages  have  been  greatly  exag¬ 
gerated.  There  still  exist  at  the  chateau  of  Loches  well 
authenticated  prisons  which  are  simply  grated  rooms,  sanitary 
and  quite  sufficiently  lighted.”  1 

This  passage  may  refer  to  the  prisoners  in  the  Tour  Louis  XI, 
but  even  those  in  the  Martelet  are  by  no  means  so  terrible  as 
one  is  led  to  expect.  They  are  quite  as  large  and  dry  and  nearly 
as  light  and  airy  as  were  the  state  apartments  in  Fulk  Nerra’s 
donjon  close  by  where  Louis  XI  passed  his  own  boyhood.  The 
donjon  was  considered  a  suitable  residence  for  the  Dauphin 
of  France,  it  being  particularly  noted  that,  although  Charles 
VII  only  saw  his  son  occasionally,  he  provided  liberally  for  his 
establishment.  The  main  hardship  for  the  prisoners  undoubt¬ 
edly  lay  in  the  fact  of  confinement ;  it  was  an  age  of  great  bodily 
activity,  even  delicate  women  of  the  highest  birth  made  long 
journeys  on  horseback,  and  men  of  every  class  were  accustomed 
to  live  in  the  saddle  and,  when  occasion  required,  to  sleep  out 
of  doors.  They  would  feel  suffocated,  shut  in,  between  those 
narrow  walls,  and  would  beat  against  their  prison  bars  like 
caged  animals.  Almost  everyone  to-day  visits  these  so-called 
underground  prisons,  whose  windows  face  the  west,  in  the 
morning;  in  the  afternoon  no  lantern  is  needed.  Ludovico 
Sforza’s  frescoes,  though  high  up  against  the  ceiling,  can  be 
examined  without  difficulty,  and  even  the  Bishops’  cell  below 
is  surprisingly  light. 

A  creepy  story,  utterly  scouted  by  some  authors  and  gravely 


1  See  “Dictionaire  Raisonne  de  l'Architecture,”  Viollet-le-Duc. 


82 


THE  CELL  OF  LUDOVICO  SFORZA 


' 


-VI. 

. 


LOCHES 


repeated  by  others,  is  told  of  a  discovery  made  by  a  certain 
Pontbriand,  Governor  of  Loches  under  Louis  XII,  “a  very 
curious  man  who  wanted  to  pry  into  every  secret  dungeon  and 
passage-way  in  the  castle.”  While  investigating  one  day  the 
Governor  found  a  heavy  iron  door  securely  fastened ;  he  forced 
it,  passed  through  a  narrow  passage  hewn  out  of  the  solid 
rock,  forced  another  door  and  found  himself  in  a  small,  dim 
room,  at  the  opposite  extremity  of  which  he  made  out  the  figure 
of  a  man  of  gigantic  stature,  seated  on  a  stone  and  holding  his 
head  between  his  hands ;  at  his  feet  was  a  small  wooden  coffer. 
The  Governor  made  a  step  forward,  but  as  the  outer  air  came 
in  contact  with  the  body  it  crumbled  into  dust,  and  the  secret 
of  its  identity  perished. 

The  small  room  beyond  Saint- Vallier’s  prison  is  pointed  out 
as  having  been  the  scene  of  this  remarkable  incident. 


85 


LOCHES 

(  Continued ) 


CHAPTER  IV 


LOCHES  (  Continued ) 

IN  the  opposite  direction  from  the  group  of  buildings  just 
described,  and  not  far  from  the  royal  chateau,  stands 
the  collegiate  church  of  St.  Ours.  A  XH th  century 
chronicler,  1’Anonyme  de  Marmoutier,  says  that  the  people  of 
Loches  were  converted  to  Christianity  by  Saint  Martin.  He 
is  probably  wrong,  but  another  Bishop  of  Tours,  Saint  Eus- 
tache,  certainly  built  a  church  there  some  time  about  the 
middle  of  the  Vth  century,  which  he  dedicated  to  Saint  Mary 
Magdalene. 

By  the  latter  part  of  the  Xth  century,  when  Loches  was  a 
part  of  the  domain  of  the  Counts  of  Anjou,  this  church  had 
fallen  into  ruin.  Geoffrey  Grisegonelle,  the  father  of  Fulk 
Nerra,  oppressed  by  the  weight  of  his  sins,  set  out  in  the  year 
962  upon  a  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  Pope  John  received  him  with 
much  condescension,  heard  his  confession  in  St.  Peter’s,  and 
directed  him,  in  addition  to  various  acts  of  penance,  to  build 
a  church  in  honor  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  The  Pope  pronounced 
a  solemn  anathema  upon  anyone  who  should  interfere  with  this 
pious  work,  and  Grisegonelle  with  his  suite  returned  to  France. 
Three  years  later  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  du  Chateau  de 
Loches  was  dedicated  on  the  site  of  the  former  chapel  of  Saint 
Mary  Magdalene. 


91 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

Shortly  after  this  the  Count  of  Anjou  was  able  to  present  to 
his  new  foundation  a  priceless  relic,  one-half  of  a  girdle  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  history  of  this  relic 
before  the  middle  of  the  IXth  century,  when  it  was  sent  from 
Constantinople  to  King  Charles  the  Bald  of  France.  From 
that  day  to  this,  however,  a  period  of  more  than  a  thousand 
years,  the  record  appears  to  be  unbroken.  At  first  the  girdle 
was  preserved  in  the  Chapel  royal  of  the  Kings  of  France,  until 
Queen  Emma,  wife  of  Lothair,  presented  it,  about  the  year  978, 
to  the  Count  of  Anjou,  in  reward  for  his  eminent  services  to 
the  crown.  Deposited  in  the  collegiate  church  of  Loches,  it 
attracted  swarms  of  pilgrims  from  all  over  the  country.  The 
shrine  was  in  the  form  of  a  model  in  gold  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  within  which  the  girdle  reposed 
in  a  sort  of  bowl  hollowed  out  of  a  piece  of  rare  agate  studded 
with  precious  stones.  It  was  kept  in  a  closet  hewn  out  of  the 
solid  rock  and  closed  with  double  iron  doors  furnished  with 
five  locks. 

Twice  a  year,  on  3d  May,  the  “Invention  of  the  Holy  Cross,” 
and  on  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  15th  August,  the  girdle 
was  publicly  exposed,  while  the  royal  family  enjoyed  the  right 
to  pay  their  devotions  to  it  whenever  they  might  be  at  Loches. 

During  the  Revolution  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame  suffered 
terribly.  Two  kneeling  portrait  statues  of  Count  Grisegonelle 
and  his  son,  Fulk  Nerra,  which  the  latter  had  caused  to  be 
placed  there,  were  broken  in  pieces  and  thrown  down  a  neigh¬ 
boring  well ;  all  the  carvings  were  hacked  and  battered,  and  the 
rich  treasures  of  the  church,  among  them  a  golden  reliquary, 
were  stolen.  Fortunately  the  cure,  le  Sieur  Pierre  Rene  Leduc, 
though  branded  later  as  a  “schismatic,”  succeeded  in  saving 
the  girdle.  He  kept  it  by  him  first  in  his  house  at  Loches, 

92 


LOCHES 


then  at  Tours  and  finally  at  Nantes,  until  the  practice  of  religion 
having  once  more  become  lawful  in  France,  it  could  safely 
be  sent  back  to  Loches.  The  cure  in  charge  at  Notre  Dame 
received  one  day  “by  the  swift  and  sure  agency  of  the  post” 
a  package  which  proved  to  contain  the  precious  object  enveloped 
in  the  same  wrappings  of  costly  material  in  which  it  had  always 
been  kept.  An  “attestation”  of  its  authenticity  was  at  once 
made  out  and  signed  by  a  number  of  persons — canons,  chap¬ 
lains  and  others  who  had  been  familiar  with  the  relic  before 
the  Revolution. 

The  girdle  is  made  of  a  brownish  material  the  jexact  texture 
of  which  has  never  been  ascertained.  It  measures  something 
over  a  yard  in  length  by  about  an  inch  in  width.  On  all  great 
festivals  of  the  Church  the  relic  is  exposed  on  the  altar  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  On  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption,  it  is  carried 
in  procession  after  Vespers  through  the  streets  of  the  town 
accompanied  by  bands  of  young  girls  dressed  in  white,  carrying 
baskets  of  flowers  and  chanting  hymns  in  praise  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  It  is  also  the  custom  for  girls  on  the  occasion  of  their 
first  Communion  and  again  on  their  marriage  to  wear  belts 
which  have  been  brought  into  contact  with  the  girdle  and 
blessed  by  the  parish  priest.  Similar  belts  are  worn  by  women 
about  to  be  confined  and  greatly  prized  by  them.  Formerly 
the  canons  sent  such  belts  to  the  Queen  and  the  royal  Princesses 
on  the  eve  of  their  confinement.  The  custom  was  revived  for 
the  Empress  Eugenie  before  the  birth  of  the  Prince  Imperial. 
At  present  the  girdle  is  kept  by  the  cure  at  his  own  house  and 
can  usually  be  seen  by  applying  to  him. 

Among  the  special  privileges  enjoyed  by  the  church  of  Loches 
was  the  very  highly  prized  one  of  being  under  the  direct  juris¬ 
diction  of  Rome,  in  sign  of  which  an  annual  tax  of  five  sous 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


was  paid  and  spent  in  oil  to  be  burned  before  the  tomb  of  Saint 
Peter.  Anyone  attempting  to  encroach  upon  this  privilege 
was  liable  to  excommunication  and  the  Chapter  was  particularly 
jealous  of  all  interference  on  the  part  of  the  archiepiscopal  see 
of  Tours.  In  1448  the  Archbishop,  Jean  Bernard,  announced 
his  intention  of  coming  to  Loches  to  perform  his  devotions  in 
the  Church  of  Our  Lady,  and  to  stay  in  the  house  of  one  of  the 
canons.  Instantly  the  Chapter  forbade  his  doing  either,  and 
threatened  to  excommunicate  the  canon  should  he  receive  him. 
Eight  years  later,  the  Chapter  having  been  reprimanded  by  an 
ecclesiastical  court  for  exceeding  their  rights  in  this  matter, 
consented  grudgingly  and  under  protest,  to  allow  the  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Tours  to  enter  their  church  once  a  year,  hut  without 
the  episcopal  ring,  crosier,  or  rochet,  nor  might  he  lodge  within 
the  precincts.  In  other  words,  the  Archbishop  was  to  come 
simply  as  a  worshipper  and  without  any  symbol  of  authority. 
This  not  being  in  the  least  what  the  prelate  desired,  he  waited 
a  year,  then  suddenly  presented  himself  at  the  church  door 
with  his  crosier  borne  before  him.  The  watchful  canons  were, 
however,  ready.  They  lowered  the  crosier  and  even  removed 
the  carpet  from  the  prie-dieu  where  the  Archbishop  knelt  before 
he  was  permitted  to  enter. 

As  we  see  it  to-day  the  former  church  of  Notre  Dame  de 
Loches  dates  almost  entirely  from  about  the  middle  of  the  Xllth 
century,  when  it  was  rebuilt  by  its  prior,  Thomas  Pactius.  “Just 
at  the  precise  moment,”  says  Y  iollet-le-Duc,  “that  separates 
buildings  with  domes  from  those  without.  ...  A  strange, 
unique  edifice,  in  which  the  influences  of  eastern  art  blend  and 
mingle  with  those  methods  of  construction  adopted  in  the  north 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Xllth  century.  ...  If  this  re¬ 
markable  building  were  in  Italy,  or  Germany,  or  England,  it 


LOCHES 


would  be  talked  about  and  prized  and  studied  as  a  unique  and 
valuable  example  of  Roman  art,  and  steps  would  be  taken  to 
preserve  it  from  all  fear  of  injury  .  .  .  being  in  France, 

not  more  than  a  few  kilometres  from  the  banks  of  the  Loire, 
it  has  been  allowed  to  suffer  restoration  at  the  hands  of  local 
architects  who  seen)  to  have  had  no  suspicion  of  its  value 
in  the  history  of  art.” 

The  striking  features  of  the  church  are  the  rude,  grotesque, 
yet  animated,  carvings  of  the  west  portal,  and  the  unusual  treat¬ 
ment  of  the  roof,  where  the  four  bays  of  the  nave  are  sur¬ 
mounted,  those  at  the  two  ends  by  steeples  and  the  middle  ones 
by  lofty,  hollow  pyramids  supported  on  corbel-tables. 

A  subterranean  chapel,  built  possibly  by  Louis  XI,  was  dis¬ 
covered  beneath  the  church  in  1839.  The  Revolutionists  for 
some  reason  had  filled  it  in  with  earth  at  the  same  time  that 
they  converted  the  church  into  a  Temple  of  Reason,  and  totally 
destroyed  the  parish  church  of  St.  Ours  which  stood  at  the 
end  of  the  present  rue  du  Petit  Fort.  In  1803,  when  Notre 
Dame  de  Loches  was  restored  to  its  original  use,  it  became  the 
parish  church  and  was  placed  under  the  patronage  of  Saint 
Ours,  the  two  foundations  being  thus  merged  in  one. 

At  the  period  when  the  collegiate  church  was  approaching 
the  zenith  of  its  wealth  and  influence,  a  splendid  royal  chateau 
was  rising  close  beside  it  on  the  northwestern  extremity  of  the 
plateau. 

Already,  by  the  early  part  of  the  XVth  century,  the  wealthy 
classes  were  beginning  to  weary  of  their  fortress-like  dwellings. 
Princes  and  nobles  and  even  the  rich  bourgeois  were  demanding 
light  and  air  and  ornament  and  comfort.  In  Paris  Raymond  du 
Temple  had  transformed  the  Louvre  into  a  habitable  dwelling 
for  Charles  V,  and  this  King  had,  moreover,  provided  himself 

97 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

with  a  hotel,  a  dwelling  pure  and  simple,  at  the  other  end  of 
Paris,  the  many-towered  Hotel  des  Tournelles. 

At  Loches,  however,  the  change  did  not  come  till  Charles 
VUIth’s  time.  It  was  he  who  began  the  charming  chateau 
which  to-day  so  picturesquely  crowns  the  rock  on  the  side  over¬ 
looking  the  old  town.  Charles’s  share  in  it,  which  was  not 
extensive,  consists  of  the  part  called  the  Tour  Agnes  Sorel, 
in  which  the  favorite’s  tomb  now  stands  and  where  local  tra¬ 
dition  would  have  us  believe  her  royal  lover  shut  her  up  when 
he  went  hunting  in  the  neighboring  forest.  An  anecdote  in¬ 
vented  by  a  XVIth  century  writer,  Bernard  du  Haillon,  and 
repeated  by  Brantome,  and  some  lines  said  to  have  been  written 
by  Francis  I  beneath  a  portrait  of  Agnes  Sorel  in  an  album 
belonging  to  Madame  du  Boissy,  are  responsible  for  the  patriotic 
halo  in  which  the  memory  of  the  Belle  des  Belles  has  been 
enveloped.  The  story  told  by  Du  Haillon  is  that  the  favorite 
came  one  day  to  the  King,  Charles  VII,  and  told  him  that  an 
astrologer  had  predicted  in  her  childhood  that  she  was  to  be 
beloved  by  the  most  powerful  prince  in  Christendom.  She 
therefore  now  wished  to  leave  him  and  to  go  to  the  King  of 
England,  as  it  was  evidently  he  and  not  Charles  who  was 
meant,  since  the  latter  allowed  himself  to  be  robbed  of  his 
kingdom  without  raising  a  hand  in  its  defence.  “Whereupon,” 
says  the  account,  “the  King  was  so  pricked  in  the  heart  that 
he  began  to  weep,  and  from  that  moment  forward  he  took  the 
bit  in  his  teeth  and  instead  of  passing  all  his  time  in  hunting 
or  in  his  gardens,  he  exerted  himself  to  such  good  purpose  that 
with  the  help  of  his  faithful  followers,  he  drove  the  English 
out  of  the  country.” 

The  quatrain  attributed  to  Francis  I  runs: 

Plus  de  louange  son  amour  s’y  merite 

Etant  cause  de  France  recouvrer 


TOWER  OF  AGNES  SOREL 


■ 

•  ■ 

* 


LOCHES 


Que  n’est  tout  ce  qu’en  cloistre  peult  ouvrer 
Close  nonnayn  ou  au  desert  Ermyte. 

Agnes,  however,  was  still  a  child  when  Henry  V  of  England 
died,  and  did  not  visit  the  court  until  1443,  when  she  came  in 
the  train  of  Isabelle  of  Lorraine,  sister-in-law  of  the  Queen, 
Marie  of  Anjou.  She  and  Charles  thus  met  for  the  first  time, 
seven  years  after  the  Treaty  of  Arras1  had  “marked  the  first  de¬ 
cisive  step  on  the  road  to  deliverance” ;  and  the  King’s  character 
had  undergone  that  “marvellous”  transformation  which  has 
been  commonly  attributed  to  his  mistress.  After  the  disgrace  of 
La  Tremo’ille  in  14332  the  change  had  already  become  apparent. 
La  Tremoille  was  replaced  by  a  group  of  resolute  men— the 
Constable  Richemont,  Breze,  Jacques  Cceur  and  others.  The 
King  threw  off  his  lethargy  and,  other  circumstances  being 
favorable,  the  work  of  Lrance’s  salvation  begun  a  few  years 
before  by  Jeanne  d’Arc  was  carried  on  to  a  successful  issue. 

Agnes  Sorel  did,  it  is  true,  urge  the  King  to  undertake  the 
expedition  to  Normandy  in  1449-1450,  which  resulted  in  the 
reconquest  of  that  country  in  less  than  a  year,  but  in  other 
respects  her  influence  was  malign.  She  found  Charles  weak 
and  left  him  vicious,  and  she  was  the  first  to  occupy  the  equiv¬ 
ocal  position  at  Court  of  favourite  en  titre.3  It  was  thought 
at  that  time  a  scandalous  thing  that  a  woman  in  her  position 
should  live  publicly  at  Court  and  maintain  a  state  greater  than 
that  of  the  Queen  herself.  Marie  of  Anjou  was  indeed  com¬ 
pletely  eclipsed  by  the  marvellous  beauty  and  exuberant  youth 
of  the  favorite,  who,  moreover,  was  of  so  sunny  and  amiable 
a  nature  that  everyone  liked  her.  Yet  there  was  dissatisfaction 

1  The  Treaty  of  Arras  sealed  the  fatal  3  Par  une  nouveaute  inouie  dans  les 
feud  between  the  Crown  and  the  power-  annales  monarchiques,  on  vit  en  elle 
ful  House  of  Burgundy  and  ended  the  pour  la  premiere  fois,  une  favourite  en 
alliance  of  the  latter  with  the  English.  titre.”  Vallet  de  Viriville,  t.  III.  p.  29. 

5  See  page  141. 


IOl 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


caused  as  much  by  her  luxury  and  extravagance  as  by  the 
scandal.  “In  all  Christendom  there  was  not  a  single  princess 
who  dressed  so  magnificently  or  lived  in  such  splendour  as  she. 
A  hundred  thousand  murmurs  arose  not  against  her  only,  but 
against  the  King  as  well.”1  Impoverished  as  the  country  was, 
Charles  loaded  her  with  gifts;  besides  money  and  jewels,  she 
had  from  him  the  chateau  of  Beaute  sur  Marne,  in  order,  as  the 
chronicler  quaintly  puts  it,  that  she  might  be  Dame  de  Beaute  in 
name  as  well  as  in  fact;  the  chatellenies  of  La  Roqueceziere 
and  Issoudun  and  the  seigneur ies  of  Bois-Trousseau,  of  Vernon 
and  of  Anneville  were  also  gifts  from  her  loyal  lover. 

In  August,  1449,  Charles  set  forth  from  Chinon  on  the  expe¬ 
dition  to  Normandy.  Agnes  remained  till  January  at  Loches, 
when  she  joined  the  King  at  Jumieges,  and  there  on  9th  Feb¬ 
ruary  her  death  occurred  so  suddenly  that  it  was  commonly 
attributed  to  poison.  The  Dauphin,  it  was  said,  had  contrived 
the  murder,  and  Jacques  Cceur  had  seen  it  carried  out. 

Her  death  was  edifying  enough.  Ellc  ent  moult  belle  con¬ 
trition  et  repentance  de  ses  peches,  et  lui  souvenoit  souvent  de 
Marie  Egyptienne  qui  fut  grande  pecheresse  .  .  .  puis 

trcspassa.  The  body  of  the  Belle  des  Belles  was  taken  to 
Loches  and  interred  in  the  Collegiate  Church,  to  which  she 
had  been  a  generous  donor.  She  was,  indeed,  always  charitable 
and  freely  used  the  revenues  given  her  by  the  King  to  help  the 
poor  and  to  found  religious  houses.  In  1444  the  Dauphin, 
afterwards  Louis  XI,  had  commanded  an  expedition  into  Switz¬ 
erland  ;  on  his  return  he  found  the  Belle  des  Belles  in  full 
possession  at  Court.  Only  four  years  before  he  had  headed 
a  rebellion  against  his  father,  the  Praguerie,  so  called  from 
a  recent  civil  war  in  Bohemia.  Charles  and  the  Constable 
Richemont  quickly  suppressed  it  and  the  rebels  were  forgiven; 

1  Georges  Chastellain. 


102 


LOCHES 


but  Louis  felt  that  the  affair  was  not  so  completely  forgotten 
as  he  could  wish.  Anxious  to  conciliate  his  father,  he  tried  to 
win  over  the  favorite  with  handsome  presents,  but  the  two 
soon  quarrelled,  and  Louis  ended  by  hating  her  very  heartily; 
the  fact  was  so  notorious  that,  as  has  been  noted  above,  he  was 
even  accused  of  having  caused  her  death. 

After  the  accession  of  Louis  XI  the  canons  of  Notre  Dame 
de  Loches,  thinking  to  please  him,  asked  to  be  allowed  to  remove 
the  tomb  of  Agnes  Sorel  from  the  church,  where  it  occupied 
the  middle  of  the  choir.  They  said  it  was  a  great  scandal  that 
the  devout  should  have  the  memory  of  such  a  woman  kept 
constantly  before  their  eyes.  Louis  replied  that  certainly  if 
they  felt  that  way  about  it,  they  should  remove  the  tomb,  but 
that  they  must  of  course  at  the  same  time  relinquish  all  her 
gifts  and  legacies.  The  canons  kept  the  tomb.  In  1772  a 
similar  request  was  made,  the  canons  setting  forth  in  a  long 
and  wordy  document  the  extreme  inconvenience  of  having  the 
tomb  in  the  choir  where,  they  said,  it  greatly  interfered  with 
the  decent  and  orderly  observance  of  the  services.  They  asked 
for  permission  merely  to  remove  it  to  a  side  chapel,  where  it 
would  be  quite  as  conspicuous,  and  they  reiterated  that  they 
had  no  wish  to  offer  a  slight  to  the  memory  of  their  benefactress. 
Louis  XV,  after  reading  the  paper  through,  curtly  wrote  on 
the  margin:  Neant.  Laissez  ce  tombeau  ou  il  est!  At  last,  how¬ 
ever,  under  Louis  XVI,  the  canons  got  their  way  and  the  tomb 
was  placed  in  the  nave.  During  the  Revolution  it  was  broken 
in  pieces,  but  in  1806  the  parts  were  put  together  and  it  was 
set  up  in  its  present  position  in  the  tower  of  the  chateau  built 
by  Charles  VII.  When  the  tomb  was  removed  from  the  choir 
the  remains  were  placed  in  an  urn,  which,  buried  later  in  a 
neighboring  cemetery,  was  eventually  lost  sight  of. 

The  sarcophagus  is  of  black  marble  surmounted  by  a  full- 

103 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


length  reclining  statue,  calm,  chaste,  the  hands  pressed  together 
in  an  attitude  of  prayer.  At  the  feet  are  two  lambs  in  allusion 
to  the  name,  Agnes,  and  at  the  head  two  little  whispering  angels 
support  the  cushion  upon  which  the  head  rests.  The  inscription 
when  translated  reads,  “Here  lies  the  noble  Damoyselle  Agnes 
Seurelle,  in  her  lifetime  Lady  of  Beaulte  of  Roquesserie  of 
Issouldun  of  Vernon-sur-Seine.  Kind  and  pitiful  to  all  men, 
she  gave  liberally  of  her  goods  to  the  Church  and  to  the  poor. 
She  died  the  9th  day  of  February  of  the  year  of  grace  1450. 
Pray  for  her  soul.  Amen.” 

To  the  chateau  begun  by  Charles  VII,  Louis  XI  added  what 
are  still  known  as  “the  new  rooms.”  Here  his  Queen,  Charlotte 
of  Savoy,  passed  much  of  her  lonely  and  neglected  life,  but  sel¬ 
dom  visited  by  her  husband,  and  completely  without  influence. 
Louis  wished  this  effacement  to  be  kept  up  even  after  his  own 
death.  “He  ordered  upon  his  death-bed  that  she  should  remain 
like  an  exiled  woman  in  the  Castle  of  Loches.  ’T  is  probable,  the 
Lady  of  Beaujeu,  Anne,  Louis’s  eldest  and  favourite  child 
whom  he  named  regent,  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  know 
how  to  have  acted  between  the  respect  she  owed  to  her  mother 
and  the  obedience  she  owed  to  the  King,  her  father;  but  the 
Queen  died  a  few  months  after  the  King;  worthy  the  lamenta¬ 
tions  of  the  Court,  if  virtue  was  lamented  there.”1 

The  chateau  was  completed  by  Louis  XII.  In  a  tower  at 
the  west  end  there  are  two  rooms  known  as  the  oratory  and 
the  bed  chamber  of  Anne  of  Brittany.  The  latter  is  chiefly 
remarkable  for  the  lovely  view  it  commands,  but  the  former, 
notwithstanding  the  whitewash  with  which  at  some  time  a 
vandal  hand  has  covered  it,  is  very  exquisite.  Carved  in  relief 

1  Pinot  Duclos,  “History  of  Louis  XI.” 

104 


LOCHES  :  THE  CHATEAU  AND  THE  COLLEGIATE  .  CHURCH 

OF  ST.  OURS 


LOCHES 

all  over  the  walls  at  regular  intervals  appears  the  ermine,  the 
device  of  her  house. 

“As  for  her  device,  it  is  known  that  the  Dukes  of  Brittany 
had  adopted  the  ermine  on  account  of  its  whiteness,  and  had 
added  the  words  Potius  mori  quam  fcedari”  (better  to  die  than 
to  be  tarnished).1  Above  the  doors  and  windows  and  on  the 
lower  part  of  a  richly  carved  altar  are  the  cord  and  tassel, — the 
cordeliere  which,  placed  on  either  side  of  their  arms  by  her 
grandfather  and  father,  Francis  I  and  II  of  Brittany,  was 
preserved  by  the  young  Duchess.  Anne  built  a  convent  at 
Lyons  for  the  Cordeliers,  and  herself  founded  a  sort  of  chivalric 
order  for  virtuous  ladies,  the  members  wearing  the  cord  and 
tassel  as  a  girdle,  as  did  the  Queen.2 

The  last  additions  to  the  chateau  were  the  chancelleries  built 
by  Francis  I  and  Henry  II.  It  was  during  the  reign  of  the 
former,  that  the  townspeople  erected  their  clock-tower,  the 
Tour  St.  Antoine,  still  standing  not  far  from  the  chateau.  An 
even  more  striking  memorial  of  this  reign  is  the  magnificent 
horse-chestnut  tree  whose  spreading  branches  shade  the  entire 
terrace  on  the  west.  Tradition  says  that  it  was  planted  by 
King  Francis  himself,  it  may  be  in  1539,  when  he  received 
the  Emperor  Charles  V  at  Loches. 

Three  years  earlier  another  foreign  monarch  had  made  a 
state  entry  into  Loches,  James  V  of  Scotland,  when  he  came 
to  fetch  his  bride,  Madeleine  of  France. 

In  1539  Henry  II  and  Catherine  de  Medicis  were  also  there, 
but  not  long  afterwards  the  Huguenots  got  possession  of  the 

‘Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  “Vie  d’Anne  de  badge;  her  furniture,  her  hangings,  her 
Bretagne.”  books,  all  are  ornamented  with  it.”  Le 

2  “Anne  of  Brittany  adopted  the  cord  Roux  de  Lincy. 
and  tassel  both  as  a  girdle  and  as  a 

107 


10 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

town  and  kept  it  for  three  months ;  they  pillaged  the  churches, 
but  there  was  no  bloodshed,  as  no  one  offered  any  resistance. 
During  the  period  following  the  “St.  Bartholomew,”  however, 
fearful  scenes  were  enacted  there. 

“An  order  was  issued  from  Paris  directing  the  people  at  the 
sound  of  the  tocsin  to  fall  upon  the  religionists  and  kill  them 
like  so  many  mad  dogs.  They  called  it  ‘haler  la  grande  le- 
vriere’  ”  (setting  on  the  hounds).1  After  this,  royalty  ceased  to 
frequent  Loches.  There  is  notice  of  a  visit  paid  tluere  to  Charles 
IX  in  1571  by  his  brother-in-law,  Henry  of  Navarre,  but  about 
this  time  the  chateau  was  made  over  as  a  residence  for  the 
governor,  and  the  buildings  at  the  other  end  of  the  plateau,  the 
donjon,  the  Martelet  and  round  tower  were  used  solely  as  bar¬ 
racks  and  prisons. 

In  the  summer  of  1793,  under  a  ferocious  representant  du 
peuple  named  Guimberteau,  arrests  were  so  frequent  that  all 
the  prisons  were  filled  to  overflowing.  “It  was  in  consequence 
of  this  distressing  state  of  affairs,”  says  M.  Charles  d’Angers 
in  his  Revolution  en  T ouraine,  “that  the  chateau  of  Loches  has 
been  preserved.  It  was  found  necessary  to  use  it  as  a  prison 
and  even  to  make  certain  needed  repairs.” 

It  is  pleasant  to  find,  in  one  case  at  least,  the  exigencies  of 
the  Terror  preserving  what  otherwise  would  have  fallen  into 
ruin  if  indeed  it  had  not  been  destroyed  outright.  Posterity 
could  ill  spare  that  beautiful  and  dignified  chateau  which,  with 
its  broad  terrace  overlooking  the,  town  and  the  Indre,  and  its 
charming  gardens,  still  keeps  up  a  sort  of  state  as  the  seat  of 
a  sub-prefecture. 

1  Mezeray,  “Hist,  de  France.” 


IO8 


CHINON 


CHAPTER  V 

CHINON 

IN  the  latter  half  of  the  Vth  century  the  Visigoths,  who  had 
already  conquered  most  of  Touraine,  were  disputing  with 
the  Romans  for  possession  of  the  forts  along  the  valley  of  the 
Loire.  One  of  the  strongest  of  these  was  the  castrum  of 
Chinon,  planted  upon  a  long  and  narrow  and  steep  ridge  over¬ 
looking  the  Vienne,  not  far  below  the  junction  of  that  river 
with  the  Loire. 

As  the  key  to  their  possessions  in  Aquitaine  (Poitou  and 
Guienne)  this  place  was  of  especial  value  to  the  Barbarians. 
They  rebuilt  the  Roman  fortifications,  then  fallen  into  ruins, 
and  were  strongly  intrenched  there  when,  in  the  spring  of  463, 
the  Roman  General  ^vgidius,  after  a  victory  won  at  Orleans, 
advanced  down  the  Loire  and  laid  siege  to  Chinon. 

The  town  at  that  time  probably  consisted  of  a  mere  handful 
of  houses  grouped  about  a  monastery  lately  founded  by  Saint 
Martin’s  disciple,  Saint  Mesme,  and  a  line  of  cave-dwellings 
hewn  out  of  the  rock  along  the  river  front.  At  the  approach 
of  the  Romans  the  inhabitants,  with  the  neighboring  country- 
people,  fled  to  the  citadel,  and  with  them  went  Saint  Mesme, 
then  an  old  man,  and  his  monks. 


ill 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

For  a  time  the  garrison  held  out  bravely,  then  /Egidius  man¬ 
aged  to  cut  off  their  water  supply  and  would  soon  have  forced 
them  to  capitulate  had  not  Saint  Mesme  come  to  the  rescue. 
He  prayed  unceasingly  throughout  an  entire  night  and  at  day¬ 
break  a  storm  of  such  unprecedented  fury  broke  over  both 
citadel  and  plain  that,  not  only  were  the  cisterns  filled,  but 
the  enemy,  seized  with  panic,  raised  the  siege  and  fled.  Not 
long  after  this  the  Romans  were  finally  driven  out  of  Gaul, 
and  when  Clovis,  founder  of  the  Merovingian  dynasty,  defeated 
Alaric  II,  in  481,  the  Visigoths  were  brought  under  his  united 
rule. 

From  the  time  of  Clovis  (481-511)  to  that  of  Charles  the 
Simple  (893-923)  Chinon  was  a  royal  fortress,  then  it  passed 
to  Thibaud,  Count  of  Blois,  frankly  surnamed  by  his  contem¬ 
poraries  le  Tricheur — the  Cheat. 

This  Thibaud  was  present  in  945  at  a  conference  held  on  the 
island  of  Picquigny  in  the  Somme,  between  Arnoul,  Duke  of 
Flanders,  and  William  Longsword,  Duke  of  Normandy,  when 
the  latter  was  treacherously  murdered.  Thibaud  married  the 
widow,  Liutgarde,  but  the  Normans  chose  Richard,  an  illegiti¬ 
mate  son  of  William  Longsword,  to  be  their  Duke. 

Seven  years  later  Alain  Barbetorte,  Count  of  Nantes,  Thi- 
baud’s  brother-in-law,  died,  confiding  to  him  the  care  of  his 
young  son  and  of  the  latter’s  inheritance.  The  “Cheat”  married 
his  sister,  the  boy’s  mother,  to  Fulk  the  Good,  2nd  Count  of 
Anjou,  and  then  he  seized  half  his  nephew’s  estates  for  himself. 
With  the  revenues  therefrom,  says  the  Chronicle  of  Nantes,  he 
built  the  three  chateaux  of  Chartres,  Blois,  and  Chinon. 

All  that  is  left  of  Thibaud’s  castle  at  Chinon  is  a  part  of  the 
Tour  du  Moulin  and  of  the  adjoining  curtain-wall  in  what  is 
called  the  “Chateau  de  Coudray’’  at  the  western  end  of  the 
plateau. 


1 12 


CHINON 


Fulk  the  Good’s  grandson  and  great-grandson,  Fulk  Nerra 
and  Geoffrey  Martel,  wrested  Touraine  from  Thibaud’s  de¬ 
scendants,  the  Counts  of  Blois,  and  it  was  at  Chinon  that  Geof¬ 
frey  Martel’s  younger  nephew,  Fulk  the  Surly,  shut  up  his 
elder  brother,  whose  inheritance  he  had  usurped.  This  was  in 
1068.  For  twenty-six  years  the  unfortunate  Count,  Geoffrey 
le  Barbu,  lay  apparently  forgotten  in  the  donjon  of  Chinon. 
Then  Pope  Urban  II  directed  his  Legate  in  France,  Hugo, 
Archbishop  of  Lyons,  to  procure  an  interview  with  the  prisoner 
and  to  see  what  could  be  done  to  restore  him  to  liberty  and 
to  his  estates.  The  offer  came  too  late ;  the  captive’s  spirit  was 
broken;  he  had  lost  even  the  desire  to  be  free  and  the  Legate 
advised  that  he  should  be  left  where  he  was.  Nevertheless,  the 
Pope  was  not  satisfied,  and  when  two  years  later  he  came  to 
Touraine  to  hold  a  council  at  Tours  and  to  preach  the  First 
Crusade,  he  made  a  point  of  seeing  the  prisoner  himself  and, 
with  the  co-operation  of  the  young  Count  of  Anjou,  Fulk  le 
Jeune,  son  of  the  usurper,  he  set  Count  Geoffrey  free. 

The  square  keep  called  the  Tour  de  Tresor,  the  only  existing 
tower  of  that  date  in  the  chateau,  is  probably  the  prison  of  this 
Count  of  Anjou,  who  lived  to  be  an  old  man  without  ever  having 
reigned. 

For  the  next  fifty  years  or  so  not  much  is  heard  of  Chinon, 
until  the  Plantagenet  Henry  II  of  England,  the  greatest  of  all 
the  Counts  of  Anjou,  almost  doubled  the  size  of  the  fortress 
by  extending  it  on  the  east  and  adding  to  the  fortifications  in 
other  directions. 

Henry  Plantagenet  was  a  grandson  of  Fulk  the  Young.  His 
father,  Geoffrey  the  Handsome,  had  married  the  ex-Empress 
Matilda,  widow  of  the  Emperor  Henry  V  and  a  daughter  of 
Henry  I  of  England.  His  own  marriage  was  hardly  less  ambi¬ 
tious.  In  1152  Louis  VII,  King  of  France,  committed  what 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


the  historians  call  “a  grave  political  blunder” ;  he  repudiated 
his  wife,  Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  and  sent  her  back  to  her  duchy. 
The  reason  given  was  that  they  were  related  within  the  for¬ 
bidden  degrees;  the  actual  reason  doubtless  was  that  after 
fifteen  years  of  marriage  there  was  still  no  heir.  Yet  France 
could  better  have  spared  a  successor  in  the  direct  line  than 
Aquitaine.  The  ex-Queen  had  an  eventful  journey  home.  First 
she  was  induced  to  stop  at  Blois  by  the  Count,  Thibaud  V,  who 
tried  by  persuasion  and  then  by  force  to  make  her  marry  him 
out  of  hand.  After  escaping  from  Blois  she  was  flying  through 
Anjou,  when  word  reached  her  that  another  suitor,  Geoffrey, 
brother  of  the  young  Count  of  that  province,  was  lying  in  wait 
for  her  at  Port-au-Piles  for  the  same  purpose.  Hastily  chang¬ 
ing  her  route  Eleanor  finally  gained  her  own  duchy  in  safety, 
but  even  then  she  was  not  allowed  to  remain  long  unmolested. 
The  Plantagenets  were  determined,  and  within  six  weeks  the 
lady  was  captured  and  married  to  Count  Henry,  Geoffrey’s  elder 
brother,  though  he  was  fifteen  years  her  junior;  thus  her  duchy 
was  added  to  his  domain. 

“Les  Plantagenets  avaient  tons  les  bonheurs,”  writes  one  his¬ 
torian.  On  his  father’s  death,  a  year  previous  to  his  marriage, 
Henry  had  inherited  Maine,  Touraine,  Saintonge  and  a  part 
of  Berry  and  Auvergne.  His  claim  to  Normandy  through  his 
mother  he  made  good  by  force;  Aquitaine  he  got  with  his  wife; 
and  Anjou  by  making  his  brother  Geoffrey  accept  a  pension 
in  its  stead.  Then  Stephen  of  Blois,  grandson  of  William  the 
Conqueror,  died  (1154),  and  the  fortunate  young  Count,  whose 
French  possessions  already  outnumbered  those  of  the  French 
King  himself,  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  England.  To  crown 
all,  four  sons  and  a  daughter  were  born  to  him  in  rapid  succes¬ 
sion,  and  in  1158  he  and  King  Louis  were  conferring  together 

1 14 


CHINON 


at  Gisors  over  a  treaty  of  marriage  between  the  son  of  Henry 
and  Eleanor,  then  three  years  old,  and  the  infant  daughter  of 
Louis  and  his  second  wife,  Constance  of  Castille. 

Owing  to  the  death  of  the  Prince,  this  marriage  never  took 
place,  but  the  treaty  was  renewed  in  favor  of  Henry’s  next  son, 
Richard.  The  failure  of  the  English  King  to  keep  to  his  bargain 
was  one  source  of  trouble  later  on. 

With  the  murder  of  Thomas  Becket,  Archbishop  of  Canter¬ 
bury,  in  1170,  the  tide  of  fortune  seemed  to  turn.  Henry,  on 
receiving  news  of  the  murder,  shut  himself  up  for  three  days  and 
could  hardly  be  induced  either  to  speak  or  to  eat ;  then  he  pledged 
himself  to  go  on  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  and  did  public 
penance  at  the  Archbishop’s  tomb.  Yet  suspicion  of  his  con¬ 
nection  with  the  crime  always  clung  to  him  and,  together  with 
the  undutiful  conduct  of  his  sons,  ruined  the  latter  part  of 
his  life. 

In  1180  Louis  VII  was  succeeded  on  the  throne  of  France  by 
Philip  Augustus,  a  vigorous  young  ruler,  who  took  every  chance 
to  quarrel  with  his  neighbor  of  Anjou,  and  to  stir  up  trouble 
between  the  latter  and  his  sons.  After  eight  years  of  intermit¬ 
tent  fighting  a  meeting  was  arranged  between  the  two  kings  at 
Bon  Moulins  in  Normandy.  Henry  II,  old  before  his  time,  and 
anxious  for  peace,  was  struck  with  dismay  when  he  reached  the 
spot  to  see  his  eldest  son,  Richard,  among  the  French  barons. 

“Richard,”  said  he,  “what  are  you  doing  here?” 

“ Beau  Sire,”  replied  the  other  fluently,  “I  will  tell  you  the 
exact  truth.  As  I  was  riding  here  I  chanced  to  meet  the  King 
of  France  and  his  retinue,  and  not  wishing  to  avoid  them  I 
joined  their  company.” 

“Very  well,  very  well,”  said  the  old  King,  “but  I  don’t  believe 
a  word  of  it!” 


II 


115 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURA1NE 

The  conference  lasted  three  days.  Philip  Augustus  insisted 
that  his  sister  and  Prince  Richard  should  be  married  at  once 
and  that  the  latter  should  formally  be  acknowledged  by  his 
father  as  heir  to  the  English  throne  and  to  all  the  French  pos¬ 
sessions.  Henry  demurred  and  asked  for  time,  whereupon 
Richard  burst  out  passionately  that  it  was  just  as  he  expected, 
his  father  meant  to  disinherit  him;  and  throwing  himself  at  the 
feet  of  the  French  King,  he  did  homage  for  all  his  father’s 
provinces  in  France  and  begged  for  help  to  confirm  him  in  his 
rights. 

Henry  fell  back  a  few  steps,  the  circle  of  lords  and  barons 
who  had  witnessed  the  scene  broke  up,  and  the  lesser  knights 
with  their  followers  pressed  in,  curious  to  learn  what  had 
happened. 

The  King  of  England  rode  ofif  alone,  while  Richard  thence¬ 
forth  remained  with  Philip  Augustus. 

After  this,  reverses  followed  one  another  so  quickly  that  by 
June  of  the  succeeding  year  Henry’s  friends  were  urging  him 
to  take  refuge  in  Normandy,  where  he  would  still  be  safe  from 
attack,  but  he  would  not  listen.  On  the  12th  he  was  at  Mans. 
Philip  Augustus  and  Richard  appeared  together  before  the 
walls  and  tried  to  take  the  place  by  assault.  Henry  set  fire 
to  the  suburbs  and  drew  up  his  forces  for  the  attack,  but 
the  wind  changing,  the  town  became  enveloped  in  flames,  and 
the  King  of  England,  with  his  bastard  son,  Geoffrey,  and  seven 
hundred  cavaliers,  was  obliged  to  fly  for  his  life.  Though  very 
ill  he  rode  twenty  miles  without  drawing  rein,  and  reached  the 
chateau  of  Fresnaye  before  Philip  and  Richard,  who  had  stopped 
at  Mans  to  eat  the  dinner  prepared  for  Henry,  had  time  to 
overtake  him.  From  Fresnaye  the  King  went  to  Angers  and 
from  thence  to  Chinon,  where  he  remained. 

1 16 


CHINON 


By  July  further  resistance  was  impossible;  Philip  Augustus 
had  won  one  battle  after  another  and  Henry  was  desperately 
ill.  Another  interview  was  arranged  to  take  place  on  July  4th 
at  Colombiers,  near  Villandri,  between  Azay-le-Rideau  and 
Tours. 

The  day  was  excessively  hot.  Henry,  hardly  able  to  move, 
was  lifted  on  his  horse  and  arrived  first  at  the  rendezvous.  All 
at  once  a  violent  paroxysm  of  pain  seized  him,  gripping  him 
in  the  feet,  the  legs,  the  whole  body;  he  grew  pale  and  red  by 
turns.  His  followers  carried  him  aside  and  had  laid  him  down 
in  the  shade  of  a  tree,  when  Philip  Augustus  and  Richard 
arrived. 

“Where  is  the  King  of  England?”  they  asked.  And  when 
told  of  his  condition  they  declared  that  he  was  only  feigning 
illness.  Henry  thereupon  dragged  himself  forward  and  the 
conference  began. 

One  account  says  that  when  all  the  demands  of  the  King  of 
France  had  been  conceded,  Richard  came  forward  to  give  and 
receive  the  “kiss  of  peace,”  but  as  he  turned  away  he  heard  his 
father  mutter :  “Nevertheless,  may  God  keep  me  alive  till  I  have 
given  you  the  punishment  that  you  deserve !”  He  repeated  this 
to  Philip  Augustus  and  they  both  laughed  heartily. 

Henry,  too  spent  to  return  at  once  to  Chinon,  passed  the 
night  at  Azay-le-Rideau.  In  the  evening,  as  he  lay  upon  his 
bed,  he  sent  for  one  of  his  people,  Roger  Malchael,  and  ordered 
him  to  read  aloud  the  list  of  the  barons  who  had  deserted  to 
the  King  of  France.  The  clerk  unfolded  the  paper  and  was 
about  to  begin  when  he  gave  a  sudden  exclamation.  “Sire,” 
said  he,  “may  Jesus  Christ  have  mercy  on  my  soul;  but  the 
very  first  name  I  see  here  is  that  of  your  son,  Count  John !” 

“It  is  enough,”  said  the  old  King;  and  turning  his  face  to 

”7 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


the  wall  he  lay  for  hours  seemingly  unconscious  of  all  around 
him,  and  muttering  words  that  no  one  could  understand.  The 
next  morning  he  was  taken  back  to  Chinon  and  for  the  rest 
of  that  day  his  son  Geoffrey  sat  with  his  father’s  head  resting 
on  his  shoulder,  fanning  away  the  insects,  while  a  knight  sup¬ 
ported  the  King’s  feet.  Suddenly  the  dying  man  opened  his 
eyes  and,  fixing  them  upon  Geoffrey,  he  solemnly  blessed  him. 
He  alone  of  all  his  children,  he  said,  had  ever  treated  him  with 
respect  and  affection,  and  should  he  live  he  intended  to  make 
him  the  most  powerful  Prince  of  them  all.1  But  this  was  not 
to  be.  The  next  day,  feeling  that  his  end  was  very  near,  he 
ordered  them  to  carry  him  into  the  church  of  St.  Melaine,  which 
he  had  built  in  the  chateau,  and  to  lay  him  before  the  high  altar, 
and  there  he  presently  expired.  The  servants  instantly  carried 
oft"  all  that  was  valuable  in  the  royal  apartments  and  even 
stripped  the  body.  “The  King  of  England  was  left  naked  as 
he  came  into  the  world  except  for  his  shirt  and  braies.”  Only, 
the  following  day,  when  the  corpse  was  taken  to  Fontevrault 
for  burial,  one  Guillaume  de  Trihan  wrapped  him  in  his  own 
cloak. 

Richard  heard  the  news  of  his  father’s  death  at  Tours.  He 
went  at  once  to  Fontevrault,  and  the  bystanders  watched  him 
curiously  as  he  stood  for  long,  gazing  silently  at  the  motionless 
form ;  but  what  his  feelings  were  no  one  could  guess.  His  face 
betrayed  neither  joic  oil  tristcsse,  dcconfort,  courroux  on  liessc. 
After  giving  orders  that  his  father’s  remains  should  receive 
every  honor  befitting  his  rank,  he  rode  away.  “And  so  they 
put  the  King  of  England  most  honorably  into  the  ground.” 

The  King  of  France  had  now  no  pretext  for  keeping  up  the 

1  After  Henry’s  death  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  gave  Geoffrey  the  Archbishopric 
of  York,  which  his  father  had  intended  for  him. 

nB 


CHINON 


war,  but  he  was  extremely  averse  to  giving  up  the  provinces 
so  lately  won  by  his  arms.  All  his  victories  had  served  for 
nothing  but  to  strengthen  a  young  and  dangerous  rival.  He 
and  Coeur  de  Lion  went  on  a  crusade  to  the  Holy  Land  together, 
but  they  soon  quarrelled.  Philip  Augustus  came  home  and  when 
Richard  followed  him  he  had  to  begin  the  conquest  of  his  French 
lands  all  over  again.  In  five  years  he  died  (1199)  and  all  that 
he  had  regained  his  brother  and  successor,  John  Lackland, 
eventually  lost. 

In  1204--5  Philip  Augustus  made  a  triumphant  campaign 
through  Touraine,  when  almost  the  only  serious  resistance 
offered  was  at  Loches  and  at  Chinon.  The  latter  place  held  out 
valiantly  for  a  whole  year  under  its  Governor,  Hubert  de 
Bourg,  and  the  breach  through  which  the  King  of  France  at 
last  entered  may  still  be  traced  in  the  walls. 

The  next  historical  event  of  importance  connected  with  the 
chateau  of  Chinon  is  the  dramatic  suppression  of  the  Knights 
Templars  in  1307-12. 

The  Order  of  Templars  was  founded  after  the  First  Crusade, 
about  1128,  to  police  the  Holy  Land.  Its  headquarters  were  at 
Jerusalem  near  the  Temple,  hence  its  name.  By  the  XIVth 
century,  under  the  especial  patronage  of  the  Popes,  the  Order 
had  become  so  powerful  as  to  be  considered  by  some  a  menace. 
The  Knights  did  the  banking  business  of  Christendom,  and 
princes  and  kings  deposited  their  treasures  with  them. 

In  1291  St.  Jean  d’Acre,  the  last  Christian  fortress  in  Asia, 
fell,  and  with  it  disappeared  the  sole  raison  d’etre  of  the  Order. 
But  besides  this  the  arrogance  of  the  members  and  their  enor¬ 
mous  wealth  had  made  them  many  enemies.  The  King  of 
France,  Philippe  le  Bel,  determined  to  suppress  them,  in  order, 
it  is  said,  to  seize  the  great  treasure  lying  in  the  Temple  at 

119 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

Paris.  By  a  coup  de  main  he  had  every  Knight  of  the  Order  in 
France  arrested  at  the  same  moment  (13th  October,  1307). 
The  Grand  Master,  Jacques  de  Molay,  and  others  of  the  highest 
officers  were  sent  off  to  be  interrogated  by  Pope  Clement  V  at 
Avignon,  but  on  their  way  the  whole  party  were  suddenly  taken 
ill,  a  singularly  significant  circumstance,  and  could  get  no 
further  than  Chinon.  They  were  kept  there  and  two  Cardinals, 
Fridoli  de  Suzy,  and  Broncacoir,  were  sent  to  examine  them 
in  prison. 

A  year  after  they  were  all  burned  at  the  stake  at  Paris.  The 
investigation  dragged  on  till  1312,  when  the  Pope  abolished 
the  Order. 

The  prison  in  which  the  unfortunate  Knights  were  lodged 
at  Cllinon  is  probably  the  donjon  de  Coudray.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  some  carvings  seen  to-day  at  the  left  of  the 
modern  entrance  were  made  by  them  during  their  imprison¬ 
ment.  These  represent  three  kneeling  Knights,  one  enveloped 
in  a  long  mantle  and  holding  a  shield  and  sword.  Above  are 
the  words:  Je  requiers  a  Dicu  pardon. 

During  all  this  time  and  for  two  centuries  later  Chinon  re¬ 
mained  a  royal  fortress,  but  from  the  days  of  Philip  Augustus 
to  the  time  of  Charles  VII  it  was  little  frequented  by  the  French 
Kings.  Then  it  became  the  scene  of  great  events.  To  make 
these  clear  it  will  be  necessary  to  give  a  brief  outline  of  the 
circumstances  that  led  up  to  them. 

Charles  VII  was  the  fourth  King  of  the  House  of  Valois. 
His  great-great-grandfather,  Philip  of  Valois,  succeeded  to  the 
throne  when  all  three  sons  of  his  uncle,  Philip  V,  the  Handsome, 
had  died  without  heirs  male;  but  his  right  had  been  questioned. 
Philip  the  Handsome  had  a  daughter  as  well,  Isabelle,  married 
to  Edward  II  of  England.  The  law  of  succession  had  not  yet 


120 


CH1NON 


become  fixed  in  France,  and  it  was  held  by  some  that  even  if 
females  were  excluded  from  the  throne  in  their  own  persons 
they  might  still  transmit  the  right  to  their  male  offspring.  If 
this  were  true,  then  Edward  III,  son  of  Edward  II  and  Isabelle 
of  France,  was  the  rightful  heir.  The  French  barons,  however, 
acknowledged  Philip,  son  of  Charles  of  Valois,  brother  of  Philip 
the  Handsome,  as  King  (1328),  and  Edward  III  acquiesced 
in  their  decision. 

Ten  years  later  war  broke  out  between  the  two  countries, 
a  war  which  was  destined  to  endure  throughout  the  greater 
part  of  five  reigns,  and  for  a  hundred  years  to  be  the  scourge 
of  France. 

The  primary  cause  of  this  long  and  disastrous  conflict  was 
not  the  claim  of  King  Edward  to  the  French  throne,  though 
that  soon  became  involved,  but  troubles  in  Guienne,  which 
was  held  by  Edward  as  vassal  of  the  French  crown;  and  in 
Flanders,  upon  whose  flourishing  manufactories  England  de¬ 
pended  for  her  supply  of  cloth,  while  the  Flemish  people  at 
the  same  time  provided  a  market  for  English  wool. 

In  August,  1346,  the  English  won  the  battle  of  Crecy  and 
followed  it  up  by  the  siege  and  capture  of  Calais.  Poitiers  was 
won  in  September,  1356,  and  Philip  Vlth’s  successor,  King 
John  the  Good,  was  taken  prisoner  and  carried  away  captive 
to  England. 

Under  their  next  king,  Charles  V,  the  French  were  more 
fortunate,  and  Bertrand  Du  Guesclin  had  almost  driven  the 
English  out  of  France.  Then  came  the  unfortunate  reign  of 
Charles  VI,  the  crazy  king.  A  quarrel  between  the  Duke  of 
Orleans  and  Jean  Sans  Peur,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  the 
murder  of  the  former  in  the  streets  of  Paris,  resulted  in  civil 
war.  The  Duke  of  Burgundy  began  negotiations  with  the 

I2i 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

English,  and  in  October,  1415,  Henry  V  of  England  won  a 
great  victory  at  Azincourt.  Seven  thousand  of  the  flower  of 
the  French  chivalry  were  left  dead  upon  the  field  and  scions  of 
almost  every  noble  house  in  France,  besides  five  Princes  of  the 
Blood,  were  either  killed  or  taken  prisoner  to  England. 

King  Charles  and  the  Dauphin,  who,  as  a  measure  of  pru¬ 
dence,  had  not  been  permitted  to  be  present  on  the  field,  heard 
the  dreadful  news  at  Rouen.  “They  rode  back  to  Paris  accom¬ 
panied  by  only  a  small  retinue,  and  made  their  entry  into  the 
capital  in  utter  silence.  The  King  was  dressed  in  a  robe  he 
had  worn  continuously  for  two  years  and  the  hat  as  well.  His 
hair  was  long  and  hung  down  about  his  shoulders.” 

In  December  the  Dauphin  died,  and  his  brother,  the  new 
Dauphin,  followed  him  fifteen  months  later.  The  notorious 
Queen,  Isabelle  of  Bavaria,  was  behaving  so  outrageously  that 
she  had  to  be  exiled  to  Tours  and  shut  up  there  in  the  Royal 
chateau.1  The  Duke  of  Orleans,  son  of  the  murdered  Duke, 
taken  prisoner  at  Azincourt,  was  carried  off  to  England ;  and  his 
father-in-law,  the  Constable  Bernard  VII  d’Armagnac,  become 
the  head  of  the  Orleans  party,  called  thenceforward  “Armag- 
nac,”  had  possession  of  Paris,  where  he  organized  a  reign  of 
terror  in  the  name  of  the  mad  King  and  of  his  son,  Charles, 
then  Dauphin. 

All  over  France  the  people  were  taking  refuge  in  the  towns 
from  the  English,  the  Burgundians,  or  the  Armagnacs.  The 
fields  were  left  uncultivated,  the  cost  of  bread  and  wine  and 
eggs  rose  to  famine  prices.  The  most  dreadful  disorder  reigned 
everywhere ;  there  was  no  organization,  no  leader,  no  army. 

In  October,  1416,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  met  Henry  V  at 
Calais  and  entered  into  some  sort  of  secret  pact  with  him,  then 

1  See  p.  37. 

122 


< 


*.  I*  !  the  Queen  .and  with  i  wr  n  .r.  hed 

. 

■ .  ,  -Sf  C  :  ■  T:sr  i  du  C  ato, 

(  -  arms  and  sm.ug- 

,  ,  of  lower 

llPam’was  no  v  -  «r<  •  ;<  i  U  lean  Sans  Pe.ur,  who,  w:  >k  i 

openly  support. 

■ 

The  Constable  Armognajc  having  been  killed,  the  Dauphin. 

novia  tomm  'wmm  l  io  k.vrlH 
I4.I7  he  •  nvtvo^A'-  /-  /..IM  v;i 

■ 

Then  the  D  R  r gundv.  . 

with  the  F ’ll 

two  swore  up  i  1 

hopes  of  Par  ad  a  er  n 

try.  When  new  r  e;  ;i 

were  processions  street  , 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  1 
embassies  to  Lving 
advance  on  Paris, 
gundy;  and  the  !  ? 

of  September  (141D 
were  exchanged,  t 
failed  to  keep  his 

self,  and  the  me-  ,  * 


ENTRANCE  GATE  TO  CHATEAU  OF  CHINON  BUILT  BY 
HENRY  PLANTAGENET 


CHINON 


he  went  to  Tours,  liberated  the  Queen,  and  with  her  marched 
on  Paris,  where  his  followers  drove  out  the  Armagnacs  with 
terrible  massacres.  The  Provost  of  Paris,  Tangui  du  Chatel, 
had  barely  time  to  snatch  up  the  Dauphin  in  his  arms  and  smug¬ 
gle  him  out  of  the  city,  concealed  in  the  folds  of  his  long  cloak. 

Henry  V  meanwhile  proceeded  with  the  conquest  of  lower 
Normandy.  He  established  a  firm  government,  and  many  per¬ 
sons,  weary  of  anarchy,  submitted  to  him  voluntarily;  some  of 
the  neighboring  lords  entered  into  treaties  with  him. 

Paris  was  now  governed  by  Jean  Sans  Peur,  who,  while  not 
openly  supporting  the  English,  did  nothing  to  check  them,  and 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  frantic  appeals  for  aid  sent  by  the 
citizens  of  Rouen,  closely  besieged  by  Henry. 

The  Constable  Armagnac  having  been  killed,  the  Dauphin, 
now  sixteen  years  old,  took  the  leadership  of  the  party.  In 
1417  he  was  appointed  Lieutenant-General  of  the  kingdom  by 
his  father,  and  in  the  following  year  he  took  the  title  of  Regent. 
Then  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  after  failing  in  some  negotiations 
with  the  English,  concluded  an  alliance  with  the  Dauphin.  The 
two  swore  upon  the  Holy  Evangels,  the  True  Cross  and  their 
hopes  of  Paradise,  together  to  drive  the  English  from  the  coun¬ 
try,  When  news  of  this  reached  Paris  the  bells  were  rung,  there 
were  processions  in  the  streets,  and  Te  Deums  were  sung. 
Yet  in  spite  of  all  this  Jean  Sans  Peur  continued  to  send  secret 
embassies  to  King  Henry,  and  made  no  effort  to  stop  the  latter’s 
advance  on  Paris.  Another  interview  was  arranged.  Bur¬ 
gundy  and  the  Dauphin  met  in  the  late  afternoon  of  the  7th 
of  September  (1419)  on  the  bridge  of  Montereau.  Hot  words 
were  exchanged,  the  Dauphin  charged  the  Duke  with  having 
failed  to  keep  his  promises,  the  Duke  violently  defended  him¬ 
self,  and  the  meeting  broke  off  in  anger.  Charles  withdrew 
12  125 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

and  immediately  after  there  were  sounds  of  a  struggle.  The 
Duke  of  Burgundy  fell  to  the  ground  stabbed  in  half  a  dozen 
places. 

The  Burgundian  party  declared  that  the  murder  was  pre¬ 
meditated  and  at  once  stopped  negotiations  with  the  Dauphin, 
while  the  son  of  the  murdered  Duke,  Philippe  le  Bon,  passed 
over  with  his  entire  following  to  the  English,  carrying  with 
him,  moreover,  the  poor  helpless  King. 

“Sire/’  said  a  monk  of  Dijon  to  Francis  I  in  1521,  as  he 
showed  him  the  skull  of  Jean  Sans  Peur  with  a  sword-cut  in  it; 
“Sire,  there  is  the  hole  through  which  the  English  entered 
France.”1 

The  Anglo-Burgundian  alliance  soon  bore  fruit.  In  May, 
1420,  a  treaty  of  marriage  was  concluded  at  Troyes  between 
Catherine  of  France  and  Henry  V ;  in  it  Henry  was  called  the 
“only  true  son  of  the  King  and  Queen  of  France,”  while  Charles 
was  referred  to  as  the  “self-styled  Dauphin,”  and  his  claim  to 
the  succession  repudiated.  Charles  VI  was  to  keep  the  throne 
during  his  lifetime,  but  Henry  was  to  bear  the  title  of  “heir  to 
the  King  of  France,”  and  in  conjunction  with  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy  to  administer  the  government.  Normandy,  together 
with  all  the  other  places  already  won  by  him,  was  to  remain 
his  in  appanage.  Two  weeks  later  the  marriage  took  place  and 
immediately  afterwards  the  war  against  the  Dauphin  was  re¬ 
sumed. 

In  August,  1422,  Henry  V  died  at  the  age  of  thirty-five, 
leaving  a  son  not  yet  ten  months  old.  In  October  of  the  same 
year  Charles  VI  followed  him.  He  was  only  fifty-three,  but 
he  seemed  an  old  man.  The  King  of  France  was  buried  at 
St.  Denis;  the  only  Prince  present  at  the  funeral  was  the  Duke 
of  Bedford,  brother  of  Henry  V  and  Regent  for  his  infant 

1  See  “Histoire  de  France,”  Ernest  Lavisse ;  t.  4,  p.  1.  A.  Coville. 

126 


CHINON 


nephew.  After  the  sergeants-at-arms  had  broken  their  staves 
of  office  and  had  thrown  them  into  the  open  grave,  the  king- 
at-arms  cried  aloud:  “God  give  long  life  to  Henry,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  King  of  France  and  of  England,  our  Sovereign 
Lord!” 

The  great  weakness  of  the  party  of  Charles  VII,  it  has  been 
said,  was  Charles  himself.  At  first,  as  Dauphin,  he  had  shown 
considerable  energy.  The  alliance  between  the  Burgundians 
and  the  English  drove  many  waverers  to  his  side.  He  held  the 
south  of  France  solidly  and  had  pushed  north  as  far  as  Chartres. 
Cut  off  from  Paris,  he  had  nevertheless  established  a  seat  of 
government  at  Bourges,  hence  the  title  given  to  him  by  derisive 
Burgundians — “the  King  of  Bourges.” 

Then  he  suddenly  seemed  to  lose  all  interest  in  the  struggle. 
At  the  time  of  his  accession  he  no  longer  accompanied  his  troops. 
While  the  English  were  conquering  his  kingdom  he  dreamed 
away  the  time  among  his  chateaux  in  Berry,  in  Poitou,  and  in 
Touraine;  caring  for  nothing  but  his  approaching  marriage 
with  Marie  of  Anjou,  and  the  pleasures  and  fetes  of  his  little 
court. 

In  appearance  he  did  not  cut  a  very  gallant  figure.  “All  his 
life  the  Dauphin  had  been  weak  and  puny.  His  legs  were  thin, 
he  was  knock-kneed  and  awkward.  His  portraits,  whether 
painted  in  youth  or  in  old  age,  all  give  him  the  same  aspect — 
that  of  a  worn-out  old  man.  The  head  is  large  and  ugly,  the 
nose  long,  the  mouth  thick  and  sensual,  the  chin  heavy,  the 
eyes  small  and  furtive.  It  is  the  face  of  the  son  of  a  madman 
and  of  a  dissolute  woman,  weighed  down  from  infancy  by  a 
tragic  destiny  and  by  the  burden  of  a  fate  too  heavy  for  his 
frail  shoulders  to  support.”1 

In  his  retirement  Charles  was  surrounded  first  by  one  set 

1  “Histoire  de  France,”  Ernest  Lavisse ;  t.  4,  p.  2.  Ch.  Petit-Dutaillis. 

127 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


of  favorites  and  then  another,  all  equally  corrupt.  They  coined 
false  money,  pledged  the  crown  jewels,  stole  the  subsidies  raised 
to  carry  on  the  war,  and  instead  of  making  common  cause 
against  the  English  carried  on  civil  wars  among  themselves. 
Conspiracy  followed  conspiracy.  The  favorite  of  the  hour 
would  be  seized  before  the  very  eyes  of  the  King;  sometimes 
to  be  murdered,  sometimes  to  be  held  for  a  heavy  ransom,  which 
Charles  would  inevitably  pay.  The  Queen,  Marie  of  Anjou, 
was  both  good  and  amiable,  but  without  any  more  strength 
of  character  than  her  husband.  Her  strong-minded  mother, 
Yolande  of  Arragon,  and  the  Constable  Richemont,  brother 
of  the  Duke  of  Brittany,  neither  of  them  wholly  admirable 
characters,  were  the  only  two  people  about  the  court  who  still 
worked  for  the  recovery  of  the  kingdom. 

Richemont  was  obliged  himself  to  be  much  away  from  court, 
but  he  wished  to  establish  some  one  there  upon  whom  he  could 
rely  to  look  after  his  interests.  His  unfortunate  choice  fell 
upon  Georges  de  la  Tremoille,  “a  big,  fat  man  about  forty 
years  old,  sensual,  vain,  ready  to  commit  any  infamy  in  order 
to  satisfy  his  appetites.”  He  had  killed  his  first  wife  by  ill 
usage,  and  had  contrived  the  death  of  the  last  favorite,  the 
Chamberlain  Pierre  de  Giac,  in  order  to  marry  his  wealthy 
widow. 

The  English  held  all  the  north  —  Normandy,  the  He  de  France, 
most  of  Picardy  and  Champagne;  Burgundy  was  their  ally, 
and  Brittany  and  Lorraine  were  neutral.  South  of  Paris  the 
country  between  the  Seine  and  the  Loire  was  already  partly 
won  and  the  invasion  was  creeping  steadily  down. 

Everywhere  throughout  the  territory  of  the  English  the  most 
dreadful  misery  prevailed.  There  was  no  security  for  person 

128 


CHINON 


or  property.  The  towns  were  full  of  houses  in  ruins,  the  fields 
were  devastated ;  merchants,  mechanics  and  farmers  alike  com¬ 
plained  that  they  could  no  longer  make  a  living. 

In  the  Armagnac  country  things  were  little  better,  for  a  state 
of  utter  anarchy  prevailed  and  “the  good  old  rule”  was  every¬ 
where  supreme. 

In  1424,  however,  Charles,  aroused  by  signs  of  discord  among 
his  enemies,  nerved  himself  for  a  great  effort.  For  a  long  time 
there  had  been  no  pitched  battles;  he  now  collected  an  army, 
composed  in  great  part  of  Italian,  Spanish  and  Scottish  troops, 
and  on  the  17th  of  August,  1424,  gave  battle  to  the  English  at 
Verneuil. 

The  result  was  a  disaster  nearly  as  appalling  as  that  of  Azin- 
court.  The  Scottish  contingent  was  annihilated,  and  Charles, 
utterly  discouraged  and  hopeless,  fell  back  into  his  usual  state 
of  apathy. 

A  year  after  the  battle  of  Verneuil  the  Duke  of  Bedford,  the 
Regent,  went  to  England.  During  his  absence  the  war  lan¬ 
guished,  but  in  the  summer  of  1428  the  Council  of  the  (English) 
Regency  at  Paris  determined  to  occupy  Orleans,  one  of  the 
strongest  places  in  France,  and  necessary  to  them  as  a  base  of 
future  operations.  The  Duke  of  Salisbury  brought  over  an 
army  from  England,  which  landed  at  Calais,  and  arrived  before 
Orleans  on  7th  October,  1428. 

The  court  meantime  was  at  Chinon,  where  the  States-General 
were  also  assembled,  but  the  supreme  authority  was  La  Tre- 
moille.  He  had  got  his  patron,  Richemont,  the  best  Cap¬ 
tain  the  French  possessed,  disgraced,  and  was  carrying 
on  a  war  with  him  in  Poitou.  At  the  very  moment  when 
the  English  arrived  before  Orleans  the  partisans  of  the 

129 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


Constable  and  of  La  Tremoille  were  carrying  fire  and  sword 
through  this  rich  province,  and  Richemont  was  besieging  Ste. 
Neomaye,  held  by  one  of  La  Tremoille’s  captains. 

Appeal  after  appeal  was  sent  out  from  Orleans.  The  States- 
General  implored  the  King  to  recall  Richemont  and  voted  five 
hundred  thousand  francs  for  the  relief  of  Orleans,  but  nothing 
was  done.  The  court  was  taken  up  with  discussing  plans  for 
Charles  to  take  refuge  in  Arragon  or  Scotland,  and  La  Tre- 
moille  got  possession  of  the  money  raised  for  the  war  and  used 
it  for  his  own  purposes. 

Such,  roughly,  was  the  situation  when  Jeanne  d’Arc,  “the 
peasant-maid  of  Domremy,”  came  to  Chinon  to  deliver  France. 

Jeanne’s  own  account  of  her  call  is  very  explicit.1  She  was 
born,  she  says,  in  the  village  of  Domremy,  on  the  Meuse,  the 
eastern  frontier  of  France.  From  her  mother  she  learned  her 
Pater,  her  Ave  Maria,  and  her  Credo.  She  was  about  thirteen 
when  she  began  to  hear  Voices.  The  first  time  it  was  mid-day, 
in  her  father’s  garden,  and  she  was  much  frightened.  She 
heard  them  frequently  after  that;  they  ordered  her  at  last  to 
“go  into  France  and  to  raise  the  siege  of  the  city  of  Orleans.” 
They  also  told  her  to  conduct  the  King  to  Rheims  for  conse¬ 
cration.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1429,  directed  by  the 
Voices,  she  went  to  Vaucouleurs,  which  was  the  nearest  military 
station,  and  asked  the  commanding  officer,  Robert  de  Baudri- 
court,  to  give  her  letters  to  the  King.  After  several  repulses 
she  got  her  way.  Baudricourt  gave  her  the  letters  and  a  sword, 
and  the  people  of  Vaucouleurs  provided  her  with  a  horse,  a 
black  doublet,  a  short  grey  coat,  and  a  black  woollen  cap.  She 
wore  her  black  hair  short,  and  cut  round  in  the  bowl-shaped 


1See  Quicherat.  ‘ ‘  Proces  de  condemnation  et  de  rehabilitation  de  Jeanne  d' Arc," 

etc.,  1841-1849. 


CHINON 


fashion  of  the  day.  Thus  equipped  she  set  out  on  her  ride  to 
Chinon,  accompanied  by  a  knight,  a  squire,  and  two  servants. 

In  his  evidence  given  at  the  process  of  rehabilitation,  the 
knight  (Jean  de  Novelemport,  called  Jean  de  Metz)  says  that 
the  journey  took  eleven  days,  “always  riding  towards  the  said 
town  of  Chinon.”  They  travelled  usually  at  night  for  fear 
of  the  Burgundians  and  the  English,  who  were  •masters  of  the 
roads.  Jeanne,  fully  dressed,  always  slept  between  him  and 
the  squire,  Bertrand  de  Poulangey.  She  liked  to  hear  Mass 
whenever  it  was  possible,  but  owing  to  the  danger  they  were 
only  able  to  do  this  twice.  Jean  de  Metz  says:  “I  had  absolute 
faith  in  her,  her  language  and  her  ardent  belief  in  God  influ¬ 
enced  me.  She  inspired  me  with  such  respect  that  for  nothing 
in  the  world  would  I  have  dared  to  molest  her.  While  we 
were  with  her  we  found  her  always  good,  simple,  pious.” 

Arrived  at  Chinon,  Jeanne  found  lodgings  with  a  “worthy 
woman,”  not  far  from  the  chateau.  Rumors  of  her  mission  had 
gone  abroad,  and  there  was  considerable  curiosity  to  see  her, 
a  feeling  that  was  increased  by  an  incident  that  occurred  when 
she  had  been  there  some  days. 

A  drunken  soldier  riding  by  hailed  her:  “So,  you  are  the 
Maid!”  he  cried,  adding  some  horrid  blasphemy.  Jeanne  re¬ 
garded  him  calmly.  “So  near  thy  end,  dost  thou  yet  blaspheme 
thy  God!”  she  observed,  and  passed  on;  but  within  the  hour 
the  man,  attempting  to  ford  the  Vienne,  fell  from  his  horse 
and  was  drowned. 

The  court,  all  this  time  in  a  great  state  of  indecision,  was 
not  reassured  by  the  incident.  It  was  an  age  when  everyone 
was  afraid  of  sorcerers.  The  panegyrist  of  the  Constable 
Richemont  says  of  that  hard-headed  soldier:  “He  was  very 
good,  and  religious  and  burned  more  sorcerers  than  any  other 

131 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TGURAINE 


man  of  his  time.”  Jeanne  was  therefore  closely  watched  and 
examined  more  than  once  before  it  was  thought  safe  for  the 
King  to  receive  her. 

At  last,  however,  oh  the  evening  of  25th  February,  the  Count 
of  Vendome  came  to  conduct  her  to  the  chateau.  They  climbed 
the  steep  and  narrow  road,  passed  through  the  great  gate  of 
Henry  Plantagenet,  and  arrived  at  the  “Chateau  du  Milieu,” 
built  largely  by  Charles  VII  himself.  Here,  in  the  Grand’Salle, 
the  King  was  awaiting  the  peasant-maid,  who  said  she  was  come 
to  restore  him  to  his  kingdom. 

The  huge  room  was  lighted  by  fifty  torches;  over  three  hun¬ 
dred  cavaliers,  men-at-arms  and  members  of  the  clergy  were 
assembled.  Grouped  about  the  King  were  the  Archbishop  of 
Rheims,  the  Duke  of  Alenqon,  La  Tremoi’lle,  Charles  de  Bour¬ 
bon  and  others.  Coming  suddenly  from  the  darkness  without 
into  all  this  glare  and  stir,  Jeanne  might  well  have  felt  fright¬ 
ened.  If  so,  she  gave  no  sign. 

Advancing  to  about  a  “lance-length”  from  the  King,  she 
dofifed  her  woollen  cap — she  had  pretty  manners — and  kneeled 
down. 

“God  give  you  long  life,  Gentle  Prince,”  said  she. 

“I  am  not  the  King,  Jeanne,”  said  Charles.  “There  he  is, 
over  there,”  pointing  to  a  far  more  richly  clad  cavalier  who 
stood  by.1 

“In  God’s  name,  Gentle  Prince,  you  are  he  and  none  other,” 
she  replied  with  perfect  confidence. 

Some  conversation  followed,  but  Charles  appeared  not  to 

1  There  is  no  reason  for  thinking  that  when  his  old  doublets  had  to  be  made 
Charles  purposely  disguised  himself  in  to  serve  by  putting  in  new  sleeves,  and 
mean  attire  in  order  to  test  the  Maid.  when  he  could  not  buy  himself  shoes. 
He  was  a  spendthrift  and  squandered  Only  the  year  before  the  citizens  of 
money  as  soon  as  he  got  it,  living  be-  Tours  had  presented  the  Queen  with 
tween  whiles  almost  in  penury.  His  some  pieces  of  linen,  knowing  her  to  be 
credit  was  so  bad  that  there  were  times  in  need  of  chemises. 

132 


CHATEAU  AND  TOWN  OF  CHINON  WITH  BRIDGE 
ACROSS  THE  VIENNE 


. 


CHINON 


be  much  impressed.  Then  she  asked  him  to  speak  with  her 
aside,  she  had  a  “sign”  which  she  would  give  him  in  private. 
They  went  apart,  and  the  bystanders  saw  that  the  King  was 
interested  and  excited  by  something  that  she  told  him.  When 
the  interview  was  over  his  manner  had  changed,  he  was  cheerful 
and  confident  and  ordered  that  Jeanne  should  be  lodged  within 
the  castle.1  She  was  taken  to  the  Donjon  de  Coudray  and 
placed  in  charge  of  a  “noble  matron”  in  the  Governor’s  quarters. 
On  the  way  Jeanne  stopped  at  a  little  chapel  dedicated  to  Saint 
Martin;  she  remained  a  long  time  kneeling  before  the  altar, 
and  when  she  came  out  they  saw  that  she  had  been  weeping. 
When  asked  why,  she  said  that  her  Angels  (Saint  Michael, 
Saint  Catherine  and  Saint  Margaret)  had  appeared  to  her  and 
that  it  had  grieved  her  to  see  them  depart.  “I  wept.  Willingly 
would  I  have  gone  with  them,  that  is  to  say— -my  soul.” 

After  weeks  of  discussion  and  delay  it  was  at  last  decided  to 
adopt  Jeanne’s  carefully  thought-out  plans  for  the  relief  of 
Orleans,  but  she  had  first  to  submit  to  a  further  searching 
examination  at  Poitiers.  At  length  everyone  appeared  to  be 
satisfied;  troops  were  mobilized  at  Blois,  and  on  28th  April, 
1429,  the  army  marched  out  singing  the  Veni  Creator.  Jeanne 
rode  at  the  head,  accompanied  by  her  white  banner,  borne  be¬ 
fore,  on  which  were  painted  a  representation  of  God  the  Father, 
the  fleur-de-lys,  and  the  words  “Jhesus  Maria.”  Chinon  saw 
her  no  more. 

In  but  little  over  a  year  the  Maid  had  done  everything  she 

1  Much  was  made  of  this  “sign”  at  her  towards  him,  had  made  him  think  that 
trial.  Jeanne  at  first  refused  to  answer  he  might  after  all  not  be  a  son  of 
any  questions  about  it,  but  later  she  Charles  VI,  but  he  had  never  spoken  of 
told  them  in  the  form  of  an  allegory.  this  to  any  one.  When  therefore  Jeanne 
It  appears  that  Charles  had  long  been  announced  that  she  had  been  directed 
troubled  with  doubts  about  his  birth.  to  assure  him  that  he  was  indeed  the 
The  notorious  life  led  by  his  mother,  legitimate  heir  to  the  throne,  it  appeared 
Isabelle  of  Bavaria,  and  her  behavior  to  him  to  be  nothing  short  of  miraculous. 

135 


13 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

set  out  to  do.  She  had  delivered  Orleans,  she  had  led  Charles 
to  Rheims  to  be  consecrated,  she  had  set  on  foot  the  redemption 
of  France.  In  May,  1430,  while  attempting  to  relieve  Com- 
piegne,  besieged  by  Philip  the  Good,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  she 
was  thrown  from  her  horse  and  made  prisoner  by  a  Picardian 
archer  in  the  service  of  the  Bastard  of  Wandonne,  a  follower 
of  Jean  de  Luxembourg. 

The  news  quickly  spread  over  all  France,  but  not  a  hand  was 
raised  to  save  her.  The  King,  if  he  would  not  fight  for  her, 
might  either  have  bought  or  exchanged  her.  He  did  neither, 
and  after  six  months  she  was  sold  to  the  only  bidder — the 
English ;  no  one  else  apparently  wanted  her. 

Jean  de  Luxembourg  received  ten  thousand  livres  turnois1 
for  his  prize,  and  the  Bastard  of  Wandonne  a  pension.  What 
the  archer  who  actually  made  the  capture  got  is  not  stated. 

In  February,  1431,  the  Maid  was  taken  to  Rouen,  then  in  the 
hands  of  the  English,  and  tried  on  a  charge  of  heresy  before 
an  ecclesiastical  court  presided  over  by  Pierre  Cauchon,  Bishop 
of  Beauvais,  in  whose  diocese  she  had  been  taken.  She  was 
confronted  by  more  than  a  hundred  assessors,  two  or  three  of 
them  English,  the  rest  Frenchmen  belonging  to  the  Burgundian 
party. 

The  trial  lasted  till  the  end  of  May;  Jeanne  had  no  counsel, 
but  defended  herself  shrewdly  and  ably  throughout.  At  the 
very  last,  when  she  saw  what  was  going  to  happen  if  she  per¬ 
sisted,  she  became  frightened,  and  there  was  a  brief  lapse;  but 
after  that  there  was  not  so  much  as  a  tremor.  She  was  de¬ 
clared  guilty  of  heresy,  condemned,  and  handed  over  to  the 
secular  arm  of  the  law  (the  English)  to  be  burned  at  the  stake 
on  30th  May,  1431. 

1  At  that  time  the  intrinsic  value  of  a  livre  turnois  was  only 
about  three  francs. 

I36 


CHINON 


Twenty-four  years  later,  at  the  solicitation  of  her  family, 
Pope  Calixtus  ordered  an  investigation;  the  trial  of  Jeanne 
d’Arc  was  then  pronounced  wicked  and  illegal,  the  findings 
were  annulled  and  the  Maid  was  rehabilitated. 

“Through  the  valor  and  ability  of  this  young  girl  Charles 
VII  recovered  (in  thirteen  months)  Orleans,  Vendome,  Dunois, 
most  of  Champagne,  la  Brie,  Chalonne,  Rennes,  Valois,  and  the 
counties  of  Clermont  and  Beauvais.  On  the  east  her  successes 
had  induced  Rene  of  Anjou  to  revolt  against  the  suzerainty  of 
Henry  VI,  thus  interposing  between  the  English  and  Burgun¬ 
dian  countries  a  vast  region  friendly  to  the  King.” 

Such  were  the  results  of  a  campaign  of  thirteen  months  suc¬ 
ceeding  many  years  of  almost  uninterrupted  defeats.  The 
Maid’s  reward  was  a  martyr’s  crown  and  undying  fame. 

Soon  after  arriving  at  Chinon  you  begin  to  meet  with  re¬ 
minders  of  the  Maid.  There  are  the  Place  Jeanne  d’Arc, 
and  the  Quaie  Jeanne  d’Arc,  and  even  the  double-decked  scow 
Jeanne  d’Arc,  where  the  housewives  of  Chinon  wash  their  soiled 
clothes;  and,  in  the  centre  of  the  Place,  a  statue  of  Jeanne  d’Arc 
representing  her  in  a  violent  state  of  agitation  madly  plunging 
over  dead  bodies;  but  none  of  these  honors  make  up  for  the 
loss  of  the  well  on  whose  brim  she  stepped  when  alighting  after 
her  long  ride  from  Vaucouleurs.  It  was  destroyed  in  compara¬ 
tively  recent  times. 

Passing  along  the  shady  quay  and  by  a  statue  of  Rabelais, 
who,  it  is  thought,  was  born  at  Chinon,  a  spot  is  presently 
reached  from  which  a  comprehensive  view  of  the  castle  may 
be  had. 

The  ground  begins  to  rise  not  far  from  the  river-bank,  and 
the  town  is  drawn  out  in  a  long,  narrow  fringe  along  the  lower 
part  of  the  incline,  and  threaded  by  steep  and  tortuous  little 

137 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURA1NE 

streets.  When  it  becomes  too  sheer  for  houses,  tiny  gardens 
and  vineyards  are  scooped  out  of  the  rocky  soil.  Above  these 
there  is  a  space  of  rock  and  wall  and  scanty  verdure  through 
which  a  stone-paved  road  slants  sidewise  to  where  an  arched 
bridge  spans  the  moat  and  brings  you  to  Henry  IFs  feudal 
gateway. 

From  where  you  stand  you  can  distinctly  mark  the  limits  of 
the  three  groups  of  buildings  which  compose  the  chateau.  On 
the  extreme  right,  above  the  line  of  the  road,  rises  the  square 
bulk  of  the  Fort  St.  Georges  built  by  King  Henry  and  called 
after  the  patron  saint  of  his  kingdom  over  the  water.  It  is 
now  completely  in  ruins.  In  the  middle,  indicated,  by  the  tall 
tower  of  the  gateway  on  the  one  hand  and  a  close  mass  of  walls 
and  towers  and  gables  on  the  other,  is  the  chateau  du  Milieu, 
built  by  Flenry  II  and  Charles  VII,  and  beyond  that,  at  the 
western  end  of  the  plateau,  is  the  chateau  de  Coudray,  the  oldest 
part  of  all,  terminating  in  the  round  Tour  du  Moulin  and  a 
square,  heavily  buttressed  supporting  wall. 

After  passing  through  the  town  and  climbing  the  hillside — 
gaining  at  every  step  wider  and  more  radiant  views  of  the 
valley — you  reach  the  bridge  and  the  gate.  The  latter,  im¬ 
posing,  and  nearly  intact,  still  preserves  its  fortress-like  char¬ 
acter,  but  the  interior  of  the  chateau  is  a  surprise.  It  is  a  great, 
overgrown,  neglected  garden,  where  crumbling  walls  and 
ruined  towers  start  up  from  amidst  a  tangle  of  shrubbery  and 
trees — vast,  sun-bathed,  deserted. 

A  path  leads  straight  ahead  of  you,  following  the  line  of  the 
heavy  curtain-wall,  and  presently  there  comes  into  view  the 
gable  end  of  what  was  once  a  two-storied  building  rising  from 
a  carpet  of  greensward  dotted  over  with  white  clover.  Walls 
and  floors  are  gone,  this  only  is  left,  but,  clinging  to  it  yet,  are 
two  wide  stone  fire-places,  the  one  above  the  other. 

138 


CHINON 


Scanty  and  forlorn  as  the  ruin  is,  it  yet  has  power  to  thrill 
you,  for  there,  where  the  upper  fire-place  marks  the  line  of  the 
second  floor,  was  the  Grand’ Salle  where  Jeanne  d’Arc  and  the 
King  first  met. 

Following  the  way  she  probably  took  when  the  momentous  in¬ 
terview  was  over,  you  pass  through  the  armory,  the  kitchen,  the 
servants’  hall,  the  bake-house  and  the  store-room  of  the  chateau 
du  Milieu,  and  cross  the  stone  bridge  that  now  spans  the  deep 
moat  of  the  chateau  de  Coudray.  Immediately  on  the  right 
rises  the  donjon  where  she  was  lodged,  and  close  by  a  few 
stones,  overgrown  with  grass  and  ivy,  are  all  that  are  left  of 
that  “little  chapel”  where  she  lingered  to  pray,  and  wept  to 
see  the  Angels  leave  her. 

The  entrance  to  the  donjon  is  modern,  but  on  the  left  are 
to  be  seen  the  carvings  attributed  to  the  Knights  Templar  who 
were  confined  there  later.  The  stair  is  the  same  as  that  up  and 
down  which  the  sturdy  little  figure  of  the  Maid  came  and  went 
throughout  all  those  anxious  weeks  of  uncertainty,  but  there  is 
no  tradition  as  to  which  room  she  occupied. 

Three  years  later  an  event  took  place  here  that  further  con¬ 
tributed  to  the  King’s  regeneration. 

Some  of  the  more  resolute  of  Charles’s  advisers  determined 
that  at  all  costs  Georges  de  la  Tremoille  must  be  got  rid  of. 
They  laid  their  plans,  gained  over  the  Governor  of  the  chateau, 
and  one  night  towards  the  end  of  June  ( 1433)  were  admitted  by 
a  small  postern  door  to  the  chateau  de  Coudray,  where  the  fa¬ 
vorite  was  lodged.  Their  idea  was  merely  to  take  him  prisoner, 
but  he,  awakening  suddenly  to  find  his  room  full  of  armed  men, 
seized  his  sword,  and  there  was  a  scuffle,  in  the  course  of  which 
one  of  the  party  drove  his  dagger  into  La  Tremoille’s  stomach 
down  to  the  hilt.  He  was  so  enormously  fat,  however,  that 
the  wound  did  little  harm.  They  carried  him  off  to  the  castle 

141 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

of  Montresor  and  kept  him  there  till  a  ransom  had  been  paid 
(but  not  this  time  by  Charles)  and  he  had  given  security  that 
he  would  never  again  attempt  to  see  the  King. 

Charles  seemed  rather  relieved  than  otherwise  to  be  rid  of 
him  and  submitted  quietly  to  be  taken  in  charge  of  by  his 
mother-in-law  and  the  Constable  Richemont.  “La  Tremoille’s 
reign  was  at  an  end;  it  would  have  been  difficult  indeed  for 
France  not  to  be  the  gainer  by  the  change.” 

Naturally  at  a  place  where  Charles  VII  made  such  frequent 
and  such  lengthy  sojourns  some  association  with  Agnes  Sorel 
is  to  be  expected.  She  and  the  King  first  met  in  1443.1  He 
built  her  a  house  in  the  Park  Roberdeau,  lying  on  the  north¬ 
west  of  the  chateau,  and  the  guide  speaks  vaguely  of  “a  secret 
passage-way  that  once  led  from  the  Tour  d’Argentin  in  that 
direction."  There  is  no  trace,  however,  of  any  such  passage, 
and  Charles’s  relations,  moreover,  with  the  “belle  des  belles” 
were  too  frankly  admitted  to  make  one  necessary.  At  the 
beginning  she  lived  at  court,  and  it  is  told  that  one  day  in 
the  year  1444,  when  the  Queen  and  all  her  ladies  were  assem¬ 
bled  in  one  of  the  rooms  at  Chinon,  the  Dauphin  (afterwards 
Louis  XI)  rode  up  to  the  castle,  booted  and  spurred,  dismounted 
and  entered.  Walking  straight  up  to  Agnes  Sorel,  he  began 
to  abuse  her  violently  and  finally  struck  her,  then  turning  on 
his  heel,  he  marched  out  and  away,  and  was  next  heard  of  as 
having  betaken  himself  to  the  camp  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy. 

After  his  father’s  death  ( 1461)  Louis  gave  Chinon  as  a  resi¬ 
dence  for  his  mother,  Marie  of  Anjou.  He  was  seldom  there 
himself,  but  in  1473  the  whole  Court  assembled  at  Chinon  to 
witness  the  marriage  of  the  historian,  Philippe  de  Commines,  to 
the  “noble  demoiselle  Helene  de  Chambes.”  Commines  was  later 

1  See  p.  101. 

142 


CHINON 


made  Governor  of  the  chateau,  when  he  repaired  the  castle 
walls  and  rebuilt  the  church  of  St.  Etienne  below  in  the  town. 
The  interior  of  this  church  has  been  restored  out  of  all  interest, 
but  the  west  portal  is  still  untouched  and  beautiful.  Above 
are  seen  Commines’s  arms — gueulles  au  chevron  d’or  et  trois 
coquilles. 

Further  west  and  directly  below  the  chateau  du  Milieu  rises 
the  white-pointed  spire  of  the  church  of  St.  Maurice,  founded 
about  1160  by  Henry  II  of  England.  Part  of  his  work  still  re¬ 
mains  a  good  example  of  a  type  of  architecture  so  characteristic 
of  his  time  as  to  be  named  by  some  French  writers  le  style 
Plantagenet. 

Though  not  much  at  Chinon  himself,  Louis  XI  used  it  occa¬ 
sionally  as  a  lodging  for  his  “guests.”  He  there  shut  the  young 
Duke  of  Alengon  into  a  cage  for  three  months  in  the  dead 
of  winter  for  having  presumed  to  lay  plans  to  go  to  Brittany 
in  order  to  escape  from  the  persecutions  of  the  King.  His 
food  was  passed  in  to  him  through  the  bars  on  the  end  of  a 
prong  as  though  he  had  been  some  dangerous  wild  beast,  and 
he  was  only  freed  at  last  on  the  condition  of  having  a  royal 
garrison  quartered  in  every  strong  place  in  his  domain. 

Rabelais,  whose  name  is  associated  with  Chinon,  whose  statue 
ornaments  the  quay,  and  whose  birthplace  is  even  pointed  out, 
may,  it  is  true,  have  been  born  there  (about  1495),  but  if  so, 
his  connection  with  the  place  soon  ceased.  He  was  educated 
for  the  priesthood  at  Fontenay-le-Comte,  was  a  member  first  of 
the  Cordeliers  and  later  of  the  Benedictines,  studied  at  the 
University  of  Montpelier,  practised  medicine  at  Lyons,  trav¬ 
elled  about  in  France  and  Italy  in  the  trains  of  various  patrons, 
and  died  at  Paris  about  1553. 

In  1532  the  first  rough  sketch  of  his  most  famous  work 

H3 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

appeared  under  the  title  of  Les  Grand es  ct  inestimables  Chro- 
mques  da  grant  ct  cnorme  Gcant  Gargantua.  This  he  ex¬ 
panded  later  into  Pant  a  gruel:  Lcs  horribles  ct  espouvantables 
faits  ct  prouesses  du  tres  renomme,  Pantagruel ,  roy  des  Dip- 
sodcs  .  .  .  fils  du  grand  gcant  Gargantua. 

One  can  fancy  Rabelais,  a  tiny  lad,  running  with  the  other 
little  boys  of  the  town,  to  watch  Caesar  Borgia’s  arrival  in 
state  at  Chinon  in  1498.  Pope  Alexander  VI  had  approved 
Louis  XII’s  action  in  divorcing  his  wife,  Jeanne  of  France,1 
and  was  now  sending  his  son  to  claim  the  reward.  Caesar 
Borgia’s  entry  into  Chinon  (21st  December)  “surpassed  in 
magnificence  the  triumphs  of  the  Emperors  at  Rome.”  He 
brought  with  him  the  Pope’s  pledge  to  facilitate  Louis’s  mar¬ 
riage  with  Anne  of  Brittany,  and  in  addition  a  Cardinal’s  hat 
for  Georges  d’Amboise.2  In  return  Caesar  got  the  province 
of  Valentinois,  erected  in  his  favor  into  a  duchy,  the  command 
of  a  company,  a  fixed  income,  and  above  all  a  promise  of  help 
in  arranging  a  marriage  for  him.  This  last  part  was  not  ac¬ 
complished  without  difficulty.  It  required  the  intervention  of 
Georges  d’Amboise  and  even  of  Anne  of  Brittany  before  Alain 
d’Albret,  not  an  especially  scrupulous  person,  could  be  induced 
to  give  his  daughter  Charlotte  in  marriage  to  this  “good  and 
worthy  personage,  sober  and  discreet.” 

After  the  close  of  the  XVth  century  hardly  anything  more 
of  interest  is  heard  of  as  taking  place  at  Chinon.  In  1626  a  royal 
decree  ordered  the  destruction  of  all  the  castles  and  fortresses  in 
the  interior  of  France.  The  decree  was  never  carried  into  efifect, 
and  at  Chinon  the  townspeople  protested  against  it  on  account 
of  the  danger  to  the  houses  below.  Some  years  later  the  chateau 

2  See  p.  314. 

144 


1  See  p.  185. 


CHINON 


was  given  to  Cardinal  Richelieu,  but  he  did  not  care  for  it 
and  allowed  it  to  fall  into  rain;  it  was  never  again  restored. 

Seized  by  the  State  during  the  Revolution,  Chinon  is  now 
the  property  of  the  government  and  is  used  as  a  sort  of  public 
park;  it  is  this  fact  that  makes  it  one  of  the  most  satisfactory 
of  all  the  chateaux  to  visit,  as  the  caretaker,  after  reciting  her 
lesson  with  dull  fidelity,  leaves  you  to  yourself  to  wander  at 
will  among  the  gardens  and  the  rains. 

You  may  stand  with  Thibaud  the  Cheat  on  his  Tour  du 
Moulin  and  gaze  towards  Anjou,  out  of  which  the  enemies 
of  his  house  were  to  arise;  you  may  mark  the  steep  road  up 
which  the  dying  Henry  II  was  carried,  or,  in  a  grassy  solitude, 
trace  the  spot  where  he  presently  expired;  you  may  climb  the 
stair  trodden  by  the  Pucelle,  or  kneel  with  her  on  the  'stones 
of  the  “little  chapel”  and  listen  for  her  Voices;  or  you  may 
rest  upon  the  stone  window-seats  of  the  chateau  du  Milieu, 
and  with  the  gentle,  patient  Marie  of  Anjou  watch  the  green 
river  as  it  sweeps  through  the  valley  below.  Left  to  yourself 
and  amid  such  surroundings  it  would  be  a  feeble  imagina¬ 
tion  indeed  that  should  fail  to  reconstruct  some  at  least  of 
the  strange  and  romantic  episodes  which  have  had  Chinon  for 
their  scene. 


14 


H5 


LANGEAIS 


CHAPTER  VI 


LANGEAIS 

IN  strong  contrast  with  the  ruined  state  of  Chinon  is  that 
of  the  XVth  century  castle  of  Langeais,  which  stands  at 
the  junction  of  the  Loire  with  the  little  river  Roumer,  and 
which  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  best  examples  of  military  archi¬ 
tecture  in  France. 

In  992  Fulk  Nerra,  Count  of  Anjou,  who  had  been  meddling 
in  the  affairs  of  Brittany,  won  a  battle  at  Nantes  which  gave 
him  the  control  of  that  duchy.  Conan,  Count  of  Nantes,  was 
killed,  and  the  Count  of  Anjou  took  possession  of  Nantes  in 
the  name  of  the  little  Breton  Count,  Judicael,  and  appointed 
one  of  his  own  people  to  administer  the  government.  This 
done,  he  turned  his  attention  to  Touraine,  which  then  belonged 
to  his  brother-in-law,  Odo,  Count  of  Blois.  Watching  his 
opportunity,  he  seized  the  rocky  promontory  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Roumer,  and  built  upon  it  a  strong  square  keep  to  be  at 
once  an  outpost  for  his  capital  of  Angers  and  a  menace  to  the 
rival  town  of  Tours.  Here  Odo  besieged  Fulk  and  drove  him 
out,  to  be  himself  besieged  in  turn,  and  their  successors  did 
the  same  until  at  last  when  Geoffrey  Martel  had  completed 
the  conquest  of  Touraine1  that  province  and  Anjou  were  united 
under  one  ruler. 

1  See  p.  61. 

149 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

In  the  beginning  of  the  Xlllth  century,  when  the  quarrel 
broke  out  between  the  King  of  England  and  his  nephew,  young 
Arthur  of  Brittany,  Philip  Augustus,  King  of  France,  took 
part  with  the  latter  against  his  uncle,  just  as  he  had  aided 
John  against  Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  and  both  of  them  against 
their  father,  Henry  II.1  In  return  Arthur  swore  fealty  to 
the  King  of  France  for  Maine,  Anjou,  and  Touraine,  and  re¬ 
warded  the  French  barons  who  fought  for  him  with  castles 
and  lands.  In  this  way  Langeais  passed  to  one  Robert  de  Vitre, 
who,  in  1206,  ceded  it  to  the  King,  Philip  Augustus. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Saint  Fouis  (1226- 
1270)  a  certain  Pierre  de  la  Broce,  described  as  chirurgien  et 
valct-dc-chambrc  du  roi,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  career  of 
extraordinary  prosperity  by  curing  his  royal  master  of  an  obsti¬ 
nate  affection  of  the  leg.  In  reward  for  this  service  he  was 
given  some  lands  and  the  office  of  Chamberlain.  Louis’s  suc¬ 
cessor,  Philip  III,  the  Bold,  conceived  an  especial  liking  for  La 
Broce,  and  so  loaded  him  with  benefits  that  when  a  notary  later 
on  was  making  out  an  inventory  of  the  favorite’s  possessions  he 
wrote  a  marginal  note  to  the  effect  that  had  the  King  after 
his  return  from  Tunis  attended  to  nothing  but  the  presents 
which  he  made  to  La  Broce  he  would  still  have  been  kept  busy. 
Among  other  gifts  the  favorite  received  the  ville  et  chdtellenie 
ct  prevote  dc  Langes  en  Touraine,  with  all  fiefs  and  domains 
thereunto  appertaining,  and  there  he  lived  in  great  style,  courted 
by  all  the  neighboring  barons,  and  by  crowned  heads  as  well, 
and  even  by  the  Pope,  when  the  Holy  See  wanted  some 
favor  from  the  French  Court,  where  La  Broce  was  known  to 
be  supreme. 

The  Chamberlain  altered  Fulk  Nerra’s  donjon  into  some- 

1  See  p.  69. 

!5° 


LANGEAIS 


thing  more  habitable  for  himself  and  his  large  family,  and  it 
is  thought  that  he  had  already  begun  to  build  the  present 
chateau  when,  more  sudden  even,  and  swift,  than  his  rise  to 
power,  came  the  end. 

His  master  Philip  had  married  for  his  second  wife  Marie  de 
Brabant,  a  young  and  headstrong  Princess,  who  did  not  fancy 
the  Chamberlain’s  influence  over  her  husband.  Instead  of 
trying  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  Queen,  La  Broce  made 
the  fatal  mistake  of  insinuating  things  against  her.  The 
Dauphin,  Philip’s  son  by  his  first  wife,  Isabelle  of  Arragon, 
had  recently  died;  La  Broce  hinted  that  the  Queen  knew  more 
about  the  cause  of  his  death  than  she  would  care  to  admit, 
and  that,  unless  a  strict  watch  were  kept,  the  other  two  Princes 
might  shortly  follow  their  brother. 

When  the  Queen  heard  of  these  slanders,  she  lost  no  time 
in  retaliating.  Word  was  brought  from  the  French  Ambas¬ 
sador  at  the  Court  of  Castile  that  someone  was  betraying  the 
secrets  of  France.  Suspicion  fastened  upon  the  Chamberlain; 
he  was  seized,  shut  up  in  the  tower  of  Joinville,  and,  without 
being  given  an  opportunity  to  defend  himself,  was  hanged  at 
Montfaucon  in  June,  1278. 

People  were  dumbfounded  at  this  sudden  punishment  for 
they  knew  not  what;  it  was  said  that  the  King  had  even  pro¬ 
tested  against  the  execution,  but  without  avail,  and  the  gossip 
found  its  way  into  current  verse:1 

“L’an  mil  deux  cent  septante  et  huit 
S’accorderent  li  barons  tuit  [tout] 

A  Pierre  de  la  Brosse  pendre. 

Pendu  fut  sans  reangon  prendre 
Centre  la  volonte  le  roy 

1  “Les  Fabliaux  de  Brabazant.” 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

Fu-il  pendu,  si  com  je  croy 

Mien  escient  qu’il  fut  desfest  [mon  avis  est] 

Plus  par  envie  que  par  fet.” 

All  of  La  Broce’s  property  was  confiscated,  and  Langeais 
once  more  reverted  to  the  crown. 

Even  if  it  is  true  that  the  unfortunate  Chamberlain  began 
the  present  chateau,  the  main  part  of  the  work  was  done  in 
the  XVth  century  by  order  of  Louis  XI,  when  Jean  Bourre, 
one  of  his  ministers  of  finance,  was  Governor. 

Money  had  to  be  found.  “Allez-vous-en  a  Paris,”  writes  the 
King  on  one  occasion  to  the  distracted  minister  of  Finance, 
“et  trouvez  dc  /’ argent  cn  la  boetc  a  l’ enchant eur.” 

Whether  the  money  for  Langeais  was  found  in  the  Magi¬ 
cian’s  box  or  elsewhere,  there  was  enough  of  it  to  do  the 
work  handsomely  and  well,  and  it  has  had  the  good  fortune 
to  be  admirably  restored  in  our  day.  Jean  Bourre,  at  about 
the  same  time  that  Langeais  was  being  built,  bought  for  him¬ 
self  a  property  in  Anjou  called  Plessis-du-Vent.  He  changed 
the  name  to  Plessis-Bourre  and  built  there  a  chateau,  which 
is  still  standing,  and  which  closely  resembles  that  of  Langeais. 

The  plan  of  Langeais  consists  of  three  parts,  a  faqade  ter¬ 
minating  at  either  end  in  a  tower,  a  wing,  and  the  donjon  where 
a  garrison,  sore  pressed,  might  make  its  final  stand.  This 
donjon  was  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  building  by  an  enor¬ 
mously  thick  wall,  now  pierced  by  a  passageway,  but  which 
then  could  only  be  reached  from  the  battlements.  Along  the 
roof  on  the  side  towards  the  town  runs  a  chemin  dc  ronde,  par¬ 
tially  overhanging  the  walls  and  provided  at  short  intervals 
with  openings  in  the  floor,  through  which  missiles  and  boiling 
pitch  and  oil  could  be  dropped  on  the  heads  of  besieging  foes. 

Up  here,  looking  through  the  loopholes,  one  understands 

152 


•  LANG K V  . 

letter  w'!  ■  Nerra  planted  his  ;e  i  particular  spot, 

e  -pe*.  ia!i;.  .ring  in  mind  t\u>  of  dykes  and 

v  hich  see;  l  awav  t  day  once  vv  be  foot  o  h 

' 

h,  and  rear  it  g  the  castle  < 

rc  ct  plaisantc  cromque  dxi  petit  U 
di  cj,  e  des  Belles  a  four 

cyu  u  r.  nd  a  Princess  of  France. 

On  > yr  astern  horizon  rise  the  twin  towers  of  the 
Cathedr  lours;  nearer,  on  the  Cher,  is  Villandry,  where 

Her.  a  had  h  I  v  utervie  ■  ith  Philip 

v!(>  ..  :..o.  r  . 

the  loft>  tc  i  called,  which,  with  its  five  little  pyramids 
and  the  ab  1  any  kind  or  y,  ling,  has  thus  far  baffled 
the  archseok  :  ne  t  h<  oi  1  an  orig  t  and 

that  it  served  on,  •  >ut  n<  on  r ; 

About  a  mil'  his  tower  i  of  the 

Marquis  de  Cn  .youth,  \  i  1  good 

fortune  to  C 
The  Cardinal, 

fluence  over  flu  is  •  mc  <  pi.  ~ 

s  months 

Mile,  de  Haut*  r  •  vas. 

in  high  fav  v 

him  Grand  £ci  <  \ 


APPROACH 


TO  THE  GATE  OF  THE  CHATEAU  OF  LANGEAIS 


LANGEAIS 


better  why  Fulk  Nerra  planted  his  keep  at  this  particular  spot, 
especially  when  bearing  in  mind  that  the  system  of  dykes  and 
levees  by  which  the  waters  of  the  Loire  are  now  confined  to 
their  channel  had  not  then  been  constructed,  and  that  the  river 
which  seems  so  far  away  to-day  once  washed  the  foot  of  the 
rock  on  which  the  stronghold  stands. 

From  this  level  can  be  seen  the  forest  of  Chinon  lying  off 
to  the  south,  and  near  its  edge  the  castle  of  Usse,  supposed  to 
be  the  scene  of  a  XVth  century  romance  once  very  popular: 
the  Hystoire  et  plaisante  cronique  du  petit  Jehan  de  Saintre  et 
de  la  jeune  dame  des  Belles-Cousines,  a  fourteenth  century 
crusader,  and  a  Princess  of  France. 

On  the  northeastern  horizon  rise  the  twin  towers  of  the 
Cathedral  of  Tours;  nearer,  on  the  Cher,  is  Villandry,  where 
Henry  II  of  England  had  his  final  interview  with  Philip 
Augustus,  King  of  France,  and  with  his  own  son  Richard.1 
Still  nearer,  but  further  north,  is  the  “Pile  de  Cinq-Mars/’  as 
the  lofty  tower  is  called,  which,  with  its  five  little  pyramids 
and  the  absence  of  any  kind  of  opening,  has  thus  far  baffled 
the  archaeologists.  They  think  it  may  be  of  Roman  origin  and 
that  it  served  as  a  beacon,  but  no  one  certainly  knows. 

About  a  mile  from  this  tower  once  stood  the  chateau  of  the 
Marquis  de  Cinq-Mars,  a  youth,  who,  after  owing  all  his  good 
fortune  to  Cardinal  Richelieu,  plotted  his  benefactor’s  death. 
The  Cardinal,  in  order  to  counteract  Mile,  de  Hautefort’s  in¬ 
fluence  over  the  King,  Louis  XIII,  introduced  young  Cinq- 
Mars  at  court.  The  move  was  so  successful  that  in  six  months 
Mile,  de  Hautefort  had  been  sent  away,  and  Cinq-Mars  was 
in  high  favor;  though  only  eighteen,  Louis  had  even  made 
him  Grand  Lcuyer  of  France.  Richelieu,  however,  would  not 

1  See  p.  117. 

^55 


T5 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURA1NE 

take  “Monsieur  le  grand’s”  new  dignities  seriously;  he  treated 
him  like  a  school-boy  and  scolded  him  sharply  when  he  meddled 
in  politics.  It  was  never  a  hard  matter  to  find  enemies  of 
the  Cardinal,  and  the  Marquis,  much  offended,  hatched  the 
plot  known  as  the  “conspiracy  of  Cinq-Mars.”  It  failed  con¬ 
spicuously,  for  the  conspirators  were  as  so  many  babes 
in  the  hands  of  Richelieu.  Before  the  first  step  could  be  taken 
he  had  every  detail  laid  before  him;  the  proofs  were  shown 
to  the  King,  who  was  powerless  to  save  his  favorite,  and  in 
September,  1642,  Cinq-Mars  and  his  friend  and  confidant, 
Auguste  de  Thou,  were  beheaded. 

The  one  great  historical  event  of  which  Langeais  was  the 
scene  was  the  marriage  there  in  December,  1491,  of  Anne  of 
Brittany  and  Charles  VIII,  and  it  was  in  the  Granxl’Salle  that 
the  wedding  festivities  took  place.  The  bride,  the  elder  daugh¬ 
ter  and  heiress  of  Francis  II,  Duke  of  Brittany,  was  a  self- 
willed  little  person  who,  though  barely  twelve  years  old  at 
the  time  of  her  father’s  death,  had  formed  her  own  line  of  policy 
and  was  bent  at  all  costs  on  preserving  the  independence  of 
her  duchy.  In  order  to  do  this  she  determined  never  to 
marry  her  suzerain,  the  King  of  France,  if  she  could  possibly 
avoid  it.  Her  position  was  a  difficult  one.  In  her  infancy  she 
had  been  betrothed  to  Prince  Edward  of  England,  the  son  of 
Edward  IV,  but  he  had  been  murdered  in  the  Tower  of  London 
by  his  uncle  of  Gloucester,  afterward  Richard  III. 

Now,  all  her  neighbors  were  wanting  to  marry  her  and  to 
get  control  of  her  duchy,  without  regard  to  discrepancy  of 
age  or  the  circumstance  of  having  another  wife  already.  There 
was,  first,  Maximilian  of  Austria,  titular  King  of  the  Romans, 
the  son  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  III,  whose  wife,  Mary  of 
Burgundy,  had  died  in  1482;  then  came  Alain,  Sieur  d’Albret, 

156 


VIEW  OF  CHATEAU  OF  LANGEAIS  FROM  THE  COURT-YARD 


LANGEAIS 


also  a  widower,  forty-five  years  old,  and  the  father  of  eight 
children;  Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans,  married  already  to  Jeanne 
of  France;  and  finally,  King  Charles  himself,  but  twenty  years 
of  age  and  in  many  respects  the  most  suitable  aspirant  of  them 
all,  though  he,  too,  had  been  married  when  twelve  years  old 
to  Maximilian’s  daughter,  Margaret,  aged  three. 

All  the  suitors  sent  armies  into  Brittany  to  conduct  their 
wooings;  Maximilian’s  Flemish  and  Spanish  troops  threatened 
Rennes,  while  Charles’s  army  pillaged  and  wasted  the  sur¬ 
rounding  country.  The  Breton  Marshal  de  Reux,  a  partisan 
of  Alain  d’Albret,  was  treating  with  the  English  and  receiving 
reinforcements  from  them  at  Nantes,  where  he  had  set  up 
an  opposition  government  to  that  of  the  young  Duchess  estab¬ 
lished  at  Rennes.  In  1490  Anne’s  advisors  decided  that  her 
best  hope  lay  in  the  support  of  Austria.  She  and  Maximilian 
were  accordingly  married  by  proxy,  in  December  of  that  year ; 
but  the  future  Emperor,  who  had  not  time  even  to  go  to  his 
own  wedding,  was  far  too  much  occupied  with  affairs  in  the 
Netherlands  to  do  anything  for  Brittany,  and  the  marriage 
brought  no  relief  to  that  unhappy  province.  Then  d’Albret, 
angered  at  the  somewhat  scornful  rejection  of  his  own  suit, 
gave  Nantes  into  the  hands  of  the  French;  the  most  influential 
among  the  Breton  nobles  began  to  waver ;  and  finally  a  powerful 
army,  raised  by  the  Regent  of  France,  laid  siege  to  Rennes. 

Money  and  food  soon  gave  out  and  the  foreign  mercenaries 
revolted.  Charles  offered  to  treat.  He  promised  the  Duchess 
a  hundred  thousand  crowns  a  year  to  resign  the  government 
of  Brittany;  she  could  select  her  own  place  of  residence— -Nantes 
and  Rennes  excepted — and  she  was  to  have  her  choice  among 
three  husbands,  Louis  of  Luxembourg,  the  Duke  of  Nemours, 
and  the  Count  of  Angouleme. 

159 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

To  these  offers  Anne  replied  that  she  was  already  married 
to  the  King  of  the  Romans,  and  should  he  fail  to  acknowledge 
her  she  should  still  consider  herself  his  wife  and  never  under 
any  circumstances  would  she  take  another  husband.  Should 
he  die,  thus  leaving  her  free  to  remarry,  she  would  consider 
no  one  but  a  king,  or,  at  the  very  least,  the  son  of  a  king. 
The  French  bribed  her  foreign  troops  to  desert  her,  and  per¬ 
suaded  her  advisors  that  the  only  course  left  her  was  to 
marry  their  King.  Dunois,  Louis  of  Orleans,  and  others  of 
her  counsellors  argued  with  her  for  several  days,  but  without 
making  any  impression.  At  last  her  confessor  told  her  that 
“God  and  the  Church  required  this  sacrifice  for  the  good  of 
the  country  and  in  the  interests  of  peace.”  She  yielded,  and 
the  betrothal  took  place  at  once  in  the  chapel  of  Notre  Dame, 
just  outside  the  gates  of  Rennes.  The  marriage  between  herself 
and  Maximilian  was  declared  illegal,  on  the  ground  that  it 
had  been  contracted  without  the  consent  of  her  suzerain, 
Charles,  and  at  the  same  time  a  dispensation  was  obtained  to 
annul  the  infant  marriage  between  Charles  and  Maximilian’s 
daughter  Margaret. 

At  last  one  winter  morning,  accompanied  by  a  small  party 
of  her  followers,  Anne  set  forth  to  ride  to  Langeais,  then  a 
royal  fortress,  a  distance  of  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
from  Rennes  as  the  crow  flies.  At  Langeais  she  found  Charles 
awaiting  her,  and  the  marriage  took  place  at  once  in  the  church 
of  the  chateau,  December,  1491,  the  bride  being  attired  for 
the  ceremony  in  a  gown  of  cloth-of-gold  trimmed  with  one 
hundred  and  sixty  sable  skins,  and  costing  126,000  francs  in 
modern  money. 

Among  the  witnesses,  none,  we  may  be  sure,  took  a  more 
lively  interest  in  this  marriage  than  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  He 

160 


LANGEAIS 


had  always  been  fond  of  the  little  Breton  Princess,  who,  as  a 
child  at  her  father’s  court,  had  been  wont  to  amuse  him  with 
her  precocity  and  quaint  ways.  Seven  years  before,  when  she 
was  still  hardly  more  than  an  infant,  a  marriage  contract  had 
even  been  drawn  up  between  them,  but  at  that  time  Louis  had 
been  unable  to  get  a  divorce  from  his  cousin,  Jeanne  of  France. 
Now,  however,  a  special  clause  in  the  contract  provided  that 
should  Charles  die  leaving  no  son  his  widow  was  to  marry  his 
successor.  This  could  only  be  Louis  himself,  who  was  a  great- 
grandson  of  Charles  V  and  heir  presumptive  to  the  throne. 

The  bride,  we  are  told,  had  dark  eyes,  pencilled  eyebrows, 
a  broad  forehead,  finely  modelled  nose — slightly  retrousse- 
round,  pink  cheeks,  a  curved  mouth,  and  dark  hair  falling  over 
her  shoulders.  The  description  of  the  bridegroom  sounds  less 
alluring.  Though  he  was  only  twenty-one,  it  might  be  that 
of  an  old  man.  He  is  said  to  have  had  a  bad  complexion,  a 
long,  hooked  nose,  protruding  under  lip,  scanty  beard,  and 
one  side  of  his  face  different  from  the  other. 

There  are  to  be  seen  to-day  in  the  Great  Hall  at  Langeais 
three  very  interesting  portraits ;  they  are  two  paintings  of  Anne 
of  Brittany  and  Louis  XII,  framed  together;  and  a  bust  of 
Charles  VIII,  which,  it  must  be  admitted,  fully  justifies  the 
above  description. 

Shortly  after  the  marriage  ceremony  the  Queen  was  crowned 
at  St.  Denis,  a  touching  little  figure  robed  all  in  white  damask. 
Louis  of  Orleans  held  the  crown  of  France  above  the  girlish 
head,  with  its  plaits  of  dark  hair  falling  over  the  shoulders, 
too  slight  and  frail  itself  to  support  the  weight. 

By  this  marriage  the  duchy  of  Brittany,  the  last  of  the  great 
feudal  provinces  to  preserve  its  independence,  became  absorbed 
into  the  French  kingdom.  This  achievement  was  the  final 

161 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURA1NE 

triumph  of  the  government  of  Anne  de  Beaujeu,  who  had  been 
Regent  during  her  brother’s  nonage.1  After  his  marriage 
Charles  took  the  direction  of  affairs  into  his  own  hands. 

The  foundations  of  the  Church  of  St.  Sauveur,  where  the 
marriage  of  Anne  and  Charles  probably  took  place,  are  in  the 
park  of  the  chateau.  The  church  was  founded  early  in  the 
Xllth  century  by  Fulk  the  Young,  great-grandson  of  Fulk 
Nerra.  While  on  the  First  Crusade  he  married  Milicent, 
daughter  of  Baldwin  II,  King  of  Jerusalem,  and  he  brought 
back  with  him  from  the  Holy  Land  some  fragments  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  and  of  the  “Cradle  of  the  Saviour.’’  It  was  to 
provide  a  worthy  shrine  for  these  relics  that  he  built  the  church 
of  the  chateau  of  Langeais,  then  a  part  of  his  domains. 

Near  the  remains  of  the  church  is  Fulk  Nerra’s  keep,  a  mere 
ruin,  part  of  whose  walls  have  crumbled  wholly  away,  while 
the  rest  seem  only  to  be  held  in  place  by  the  supporting  arms 
of  the  ivy  that  creeps  and  climbs  and  enfolds  them  in  a  strong 
embrace. 

One  of  Rabelais’s  patrons,  whom  he  followed  to  Italy  and 
then  back  again  to  Touraine,  was  Du  Bellay,  Sieur  de  Langeais, 
and  a  Renaissance  house  that  faces  the  chateau  from  across 
the  narrow  street  is  pointed  out  as  having  been  occupied  by 
the  jovial  doctor  up  to  the  time  of  his  patron’s  death  in  1543. 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  Langeais  belonged  to  the 
Duke  of  Luynes ;  it  was  confiscated  and  in  the  early  part  of  the 
XIXth  century  served  as  a  municipal  prison.  Finally,  after 
many  vicissitudes,  it  was  bought  by  its  present  owner,  M.  Sieg- 

'  In  1488,  Maximilian  of  Austria,  Alain  ber  of  French  nobles  and  prelates  who 
d’Albret,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  had  joined  the  plot  were  thrown  into 
allied  themselves  with  the  English  in  an  prison,  the  Duke  of  Orleans  among 
effort  to  overthrow  the  Beaujeu  govern-  them.  It  was  then  that  Philip  de  Com¬ 
ment.  The  attempt  failed,  and  a  num-  mines  “tasted  the  cage  at  Loches.” 

l62 


»  ;  who  has  restored  it  and  presented  it  to  :t  de 

n  e,!  i  i  >  e  serving  the  right  to  occupy  i t  d u j  r  his  own 


i  ;  now  on  a  level  with  what  w a  the  h;  : 

ft:  flight  of  stone  steps  to  the  dr  r  ige 

ft  ies  by  buildings,  but  stretching  up  and 

■  upper  level  of  the  .court  is  <  n  red 
by  in  a  stiff  pattern  like  a  rug.  Four 

. 


>  r  has  a  monumental 

ch  unney-piece  an 
■ 


device — -potius.mori  < 

nished  ; .  The  T 
have  the  letters  A  K 

VIII),  with  their  device 

the  cast! 
antiquely  furnh 
rooms,  fihvd  v 

of  old  furniture,  a  ?  poo  you. 

1  The  Institut  de  Fran.  .  "  fv  ’  va  def-  Beaux- 

It  includes  the  Acadenn 
the  four  Academies  des 


CHATEAU  OF  LANGEAIS,  DRAWBRIDGE 


LANGEAIS 


fried,  who  has  restored  it  and  presented  it  to  the  Institut  de 
France,1  though  reserving  the  right  to  occupy  it  during  his  own 
lifetime. 

From  the  street,  now  on  a  level  with  what  was  the  line  of 
the  moat,  you  mount  a  flight  of  stone  steps  to  the  drawbridge. 
Beyond  this  an  archway  leads  to  the  wide,  sunny  court,  nearly 
surrounded  on  three  sides  by  buildings,  but  stretching  up  and 
away  on  the  fourth  to  the  park,  where  the  remains  of  Fulk 
Nerra’s  keep  are  seen.  The  upper  level  of  the  court  is  covered 
by  a  square  parterre,  planted  in  a  stiff  pattern  like  a  rug.  Four 
towers,  each  with  a  spiral  stair,  lead  to  the  different  parts  of 
the  building. 

The  two  most  interesting  rooms  at  Langeais  are  the  Guard 
room  and  the  Grand’ Salle.  The  former  has  a  monumental 
chimney-piece  and  a  frieze  in  which  the  arms  of  Anne  of  Brit¬ 
tany,  the  leashed  greyhounds  and  the  ermine,  appear,  and  her 
device—-/>offw.y  mori  quani  foedari  (better  to  die  than  to  be  tar¬ 
nished).  The  decorations,  also  modern,  of  the  adjoining  room 
have  the  letters  A  K  introduced,  for  Anne  and  Karolus  (Charles 
VIII),  with  their  devices  and  the  two  crowns  joined  by  cor¬ 
deliers. 

An  official  of  the  Institut  de  France  conducts  the  visitor  over 
the  castle,  through  what  appears  to  be  an  interminable  suc¬ 
cession  of  richly-tiled  floors,  of  tapestry-covered  walls,  of 
antiquely  furnished  apartments.  Passing  suddenly  from  the 
palpitating  heat  of  the  summer  day  into  these  cool,  shaded 
rooms,  filled  with  the  odor  of  roses,  of  old  books,  of  old  tapestry, 
of  old  furniture,  a  sort  of  somnolence  settles  down  upon  you. 

1  The  Institut  de  France  is  at  Paris.  Belles  Lettres,  des  Sciences,  des  Beaux- 
It  includes  the  Academic  Francaise  and  Arts,  et  des  Sciences  Morales  et  Poli- 
the  four  Academies  des  Inscriptions  et  tiques. 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


Here  are  Flemish  cabinets,  Italian  tapestries,  Dutch  wood- 
carvings,  Spanish  leather-work;  everything  of  the  “epoch.” 
“These  bedsteads  were  designed  by  Viollet-le-Duc.”  “Observe 
that  the  curtain  is  knotted  about  the  right-hand  post  at  the 
foot  after  the  manner  of  the  time.”  Rich  and  handsome  and 
imposing  as  all  this  restoration  is,  yet  one  feels  that  for  pure 
enjoyment  it  is  better  after  all  to  be  left  in  peace  to  idealize  the 
reconstructing  for  oneself,  as  amidst  the  ruins  of  Chinon  or 
even  the  scanty  remains  of  Plessis-les-Tours. 


CHATEAU  OF  LANGEAIS  :  VIEW  FROM  THE  COURT 


AMBOISE 


CHAPTER  VII 


AMBOISE 

THE  brief  reign  and  untoward  death  of  Charles  VIII, 
the  story  of  whose  marriage  to  Anne,  Duchess  of  Brit¬ 
tany,  at  Langeais  was  told  in  the  last  chapter,  are  both 
closely  associated  with  the  chateau  of  Amboise.  * 

This  chateau,  perched  upon  a  wedge-shaped  rock  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Loire,  is  thought  like  so  many  others  to  be  of 
Roman  origin;  there  is  a  tradition  that  it  was  rebuilt  as  early 
as  375.  However  this  may  be,  Clovis  took  it  from  the  Visigoths 
early  in  the  Vlth  century  and  his  descendants  held  it  for  more 
than  three  hundred  years.  Then  Louis  the  Stammerer  gave 
it  to  Ingelger,  father  of  the  first  Count  of  Anjou,  as  a  reward 
for  his  valor  in  repulsing  the  Normans.  From  the  Counts  of 
Anjou,  Amboise  passed  to  one  Hugh,  a  baron  who  had  accom¬ 
panied  William  the  Conqueror  to  England  and  had  won  great 
wealth  in  the  expedition.  Hugh  is  described  as  “the  stem  of 
that  illustrious  house  of  Amboise  which  won  such  renown  for 
itself  as  to  be  called  the  race  of  Mars.”  Nevertheless,  Louis 
d’ Amboise,  its  representative  in  Charles  VII’s  reign,  having 
joined  in  a  plot  against  the  favorite,  Georges  de  la  Tremoille, 
in  1431,  lost  all  his  property  and  nearly  lost  his  head  as  well. 

The  chateau  was  sequestered,  and  thenceforth  belonged  either 

171 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

to  the  crown  or  to  the  Orleans  family  until  1762,  when  it  was 
given  to  the  Duke  of  Choiseul  in  exchange  for  his  estate 
of  Pompadour. 

The  visitor  to  Amboise  after  leaving  the  station  and  passing 
through  the  uninteresting  modern  town,  emerges  upon  a  broad 
quay,  close  to  the  XV th  century  church  of  Notre  Dame  du 
Bout-des-Ponts.  This  building  is  so  plain  as  to  be  almost  barn¬ 
like,  but  the  interior,  wide,  low  and  without  either  aisles  or 
choir,  has  a  quaint  and  musty  charm  of  its  own.  Outside, 
beside  the  door,  the  heights  of  some  of  the  great  floods  of  the 
Loire  have  been  marked  on  the  stone.  Quite  astounding  they 
seem  in  view  of  the  size  of  that  tranquil  stream  as  one  sees  it 
in  midsummer. 

At  this  point  the  bed  of  the  Loire  is  so  wide  as  to  be  spanned 
by  two  bridges  thrown  out  from  an  island  in  the  centre  of 
the  stream,  the  lie  d’Or,  or,  as  it  is  now  called  from  a  XHIth 
century  church,  the  lie  St.  Jean. 

From  the  second  bridge,  after  the  island  is  passed,  there  is 
an  unimpeded  view  of  the  opposite  shore.  Above  the  river 
and  wide  stretch  of  yellow  sands  lie,  first  the  line  of  solid  stone 
quays.  Above  the  quays  is  a  fringe  of  gay  little  houses  and 
cafes,  with  gardens  and  vine-embowered  balconies,  where  people 
sit  and  sip  their  cofifee  and  watch  the  river  and  the  women  beat¬ 
ing  clothes  in  the  water,  and  the  peasants  and  donkeys  and 
automobiles  and  soldiers  and  priests  and  tourists  as  they  pass 
back  and  forward  across  the  bridges.  Above  the  houses 
comes  a  mighty  mass  of  rock  and  solid  masonry  and  buttressed 
wall,  and  over  these,  the  chateau,  light,  smiling  and  habitable- 
seeming,  with  peaked  roof  and  carved  windows,  tall  chimneys 
and  pointed  tourelles,  looking  almost  out  of  place  on  so  grim 
and  massive  a  base. 


AMBOISE 


From  the  bridge  you  are  facing  the  broad  end  of  the  tri¬ 
angular-shaped  height  on  which  the  castle  stands.  On  the 
extreme  left  is  the  park,  indicated  by  a  dark  mass  of  foliage 
and  supported  on  heavy,  bastioned  walls  terminating  in  the 
huge  round  Tour  des  Minimes,  whose  base  plunges  down  to 
the  level  of  the  house  below.1  Connected  with  the  Tour  des 
Minimes  by  a  lofty  spiral-stair  tower  is  the  principal  facade, 
built  by  Charles  VIII  and  called  the  logis  dn  Roi.  It  has  a 
graceful  arcaded  gallery  surmounted  on  the  main  floor  by  a 
line  of  tall  windows  opening  on  a  wrought-iron  balcony  of 
XVIIth  century  workmanship  and  known  as  the  “Huguenot 
Balcony.”  Above  is  the  steep  roof  added  by  Francis  I,  broken 
by  six  Renaissance  dormer  windows  and  a  number  of  high 
brick  chimneys.  This  part  of  the  chateau  has  been  thoroughly 
restored  by  members  of  the  Orleans  family,  the  present  pro¬ 
prietors. 

Formerly  a  line  of  buildings  extended  on  the  south  to  where 
a  great  round  buttress  marks  the  angle  of  the  rock,  and  thence 
in  an  easterly  direction,  past  the  chapel  of  St.  Hubert,  to  the 
other  round  tower,  called  the  Tour  Cesar,  or  Heurtault.  Now, 
however,  all  these  intervening  buildings  have  disappeared,  leav¬ 
ing  the  little  flamboyant  chapel  quite  disengaged,  and  poised 
upon  its  solitary  pier  like  some  winged  thing  about  to  take 
flight.  The  rest  of  the  space  is  laid  out  in  terraces  and  gardens. 

The  chateau  is  reached  by  a  vaulted  passageway  cut  through 
the  oldest  part  of  the  pile,  the  remains  of  the  feudal  fortress 
of  the  Counts  of  Anjou,  upon  the  ruins  of  which  the  present 

1  So  called  from  the  near-by  Minimes  In  the  convent  grounds  are  a  series 
convent  founded  by  Charles  VIII,  on  of  subterranean  store-rooms  for  wine 
the  spot  where  he  went  on  foot  to  re-  and  grain,  popularly  known  as  “Caesar’s 
ceive  Saint  Francis  de  Paul  on  the  Granaries.”  Their  date  and  origin  have 
latter’s  arrival  in  France,  (see  p.  47).  never  been  ascertained. 

1 75 


THE  CHATEAUX  OE  TOURAINE 


building  stands.  About  half-way  up  the  ascent  you  pass  the 
stables,  dating  only  from  Louis  Philippe’s  time,  and  at  the  top 
you  emerge  close  to  the  chapel  of  St.  Hubert.  This  exquisite 
little  building  was  completed  before  Charles  VIII,  going  down 
into  Italy  to  conquer  a  kingdom,  opened  the  way  for  a  counter 
invasion  by  Italian  craftsmen  into  France.  It  is,  therefore, 
wholly  French,  both  in  design  and  workmanship.  The  bas- 
relief  over  the  door,  representing  scenes  from  the  life  of  Saint 
Plubert,  belongs  to  the  Tourangeau  school  of  Michael  Colombe. 
Above  it  is  an  admirable  modern  group  of  the  Virgin  and  Child, 
between  the  kneeling  figures  of  Charles  VIII  and  Anne  of 
Brittany,  placed  there  when  the  Duke  of  Orleans  restored  the 
chapel  in  the  XIXth  century.  The  interior  is  extraordinarily 
rich,  the  surface  of  the  stone  being  covered  with  a  delicate  fret¬ 
work  of  carving,  representing  branches  of  trees,  vines,  roots, 
gnarled  and  twisted  trunks,  leaves  and  twigs,  everything,  in 
short,  that  can  suggest  the  forest  glades  in  which  Saint  Hubert, 
the  patron  saint  of  huntsmen,  made  his  home.  The  windows  are 
filled  with  modern  stained  glass,  too  gaudy  for  the  surroundings. 

In  this  chapel  are  interred  what  are  believed  to  be  the  bones 
of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  placed  there  in  1879.  In  1516,  after 
the  taking  of  Milan,  King  Francis  I  brought  Leonardo  da  Vinci 
back  with  him  to  France,  and  established  him  in  a  house  called 
Clos-Luce,  still  standing  on  the  south  side  of  the  town  of 
Amboise.  Here  on  2d  May,  1519,  he  died,  leaving  but  few 
traces  of  his  sojourn  on  French  soil.1  They  buried  him,  ac¬ 
cording  to  his  own  wish,  in  the  cloister  of  the  ancient  church 

1  While  at  Clos-Luce  Leonardo  made  Loire.  Mr.  T.  A.  Cook  thinks  he  also 
designs  for  a  reconstruction  of  the  painted  there  the  St.  John  Baptist  of  the 
chateau  of  Amboise,  which  were  never  Louvre  gallery.  See  “Spirals  in  Nature 
carried  out.  as  well  as  some  engineering  and  Art,”  Theodore  Andrea  Cook, 
plans  and  a  hydrographic  map  of  the 

I76 


AMBOISE 


of  the  chateau,  dedicated  to  Saint  Florentin  by  Fulk  Nerra, 
Count  of  Anjou.  During  the  Revolution  this  church  was  sold 
as  national  property  and  destroyed,  no  one  at  that  time  giving 
a  thought  to  the  tomb  of  the  great  Italian.  A  half-century  went 
by,  then  it  occurred  to  someone  that  an  effort  should  be  made 
to  recover  his  bones.  In  1863,  accordingly,  M.  Arsene  Hous- 
saye,  Inspector  of  the  Fine  Arts  at  Paris,  was  authorized  to 
excavate  the  site.  He  found  what  he  believed  to  be  the  remains 
he  was  in  search  of,  and,  though  no  positive  identification  was 
possible,  these  were  re-interred  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Hubert. 
The  French  Government  placed  a  memorial  bust  on  the  site 
of  the  original  tomb  with  the  dates  1452-15 19. 

During  the  Hundred  Years  War,  and  up  to  the  time  of 
Charles  VII’s  death,  Amboise  served  mainly  as  a  royal  fortress.1 
Louis  XI  partly  rebuilt  it  as  a  residence  for  his  Queen,  Charlotte 
of  Savoy,  and  there  the  Dauphin,  afterwards  Charles  VIII,  was 
born  on  30th  June,  1470.  He  was  a  delicate  child  and  Louis 
fussed  over  him  like  an  old  woman.  The  townspeople  were 
ordered  to  discontinue  their  custom  of  attending  service  in  the 
church  of  the  chateau  for  fear  of  introducing  infectious  diseases, 
and  were  told  to  build  a  church  for  themselves  in  the  town  below. 
They  did  so,  the  existing  church  of  Notre  Dame.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  King  organized  a  sort  of  civic  guard  for  the  better 
protection  of  the  castle  in  times  of  disturbance.  “Betake  your¬ 
selves  to  the  castle,”  he  writes  to  the  burghers,  “whenever  there 
is  need,  with  your  spoons  and  your  sauce-pans  and  drink  wine 
from  my  cellars,  but  see  that  you  surrender  it  to  no  one  but 
myself.” 

For  eight  years  after  Louis  XFs  death  his  son  Charles  con- 

1  Although  Louis  d’ Amboise  recovered  the  rest  of  his  estates  after  the  disgrace 
of  La  Tremo'ille,  Amboise  was  especially  excepted. 

177 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

tinued  to  live  quietly  at  Amboise,  occupied  with  adding  to  the 
chateau,  and  with  reading  romances  and  filling  his  brain  with 
dreams  of  chivalric  enterprises;  his  masterful  sister,  the  Regent, 
Anne  de  Beaujeu,  meanwhile  governed  the  kingdom.  In  1491, 
however,  soon  after  his  marriage,  Charles  took  the  management 
of  affairs  into  his  own  hands,  and  two  years  later  all  his  roman¬ 
cing  and  novel-reading  bore  fruit.  He  determined  that  it  would 
be  a  fine  thing  to  ride  forth  and  conquer  the  kingdom  of  Naples, 
to  which  the  House  of  Valois  had  a  nebulous  claim.1  The 
Queen,  hard-headed  little  Bretonne  that  she  was,  thought  the 
enterprise  foolish  and  did  her  best  to  dissuade  him,  but  Charles 
was  very  obstinate,  and  he  had,  moreover,  set  his  heart  upon 
seeing  the  famed  palaces  and  gardens  of  the  south  with  a  view 
to  further  improvements  at  Amboise. 

At  this  time,  in  addition  to  the  chapel  of  St.  Hubert,  he  had 
already  completed  the  wing  facing  the  Loire  called  the  logis  du 
Roi  and  some  other  buildings  since  destroyed,  and  had  begun  the 
two  great  towers  of  Minimes  and  Heuraulc.  These  towers 
were,  and  still  are,  unique  in  France.  In  construction  they 
consist  of  two  towers  each,  the  inner  ones  forming  the  central 
columns  of  support  for  what  ordinarily  would  be  stairs,  but 
which  here  are  inclined  planes.  In  the  Tour  Heurtault  the 
rise  is  so  gradual  and  the  width  of  the  plane  so  great,  that 
horsemen  and  even  carriages  can  mount  it  without  difficulty, 
and  it  served  as  the  main  entrance  to  the  chateau.  The  sup¬ 
ports  of  this  spiral  plane  are  a  series  of  pointed  arches,  their 
bases  carved  with  grotesque  figures,  thrown  from  the  central 

1  The  royal  families  of  Arragon  and  Naples  by  Charles  of  Anjou,  brother  of 
of  France  both  laid  claim  to  the  crown  Saint  Louis,  and  (2)  on  its  having  been 
of  Naples,  and  in  1492  Ferdinand  I  of  left  by  will  to  Louis  XI  at  the  death  of 
Arragon  was  in  possession.  The  French  Charles  du  Maine,  the  last  representa- 
lawyers  made  out  a  case  for  Charles  tive  of  the  second  French  House  of 
VIII  based  (1)  on  the  conquest  of  Anjou. 

I?8 


‘ 


J  OISE 

-  ruction  of  enormous  difficulty 
. .  •!>:  qu>  >etion  of  th«.  he 

ntervening  paces.  The  logis  (fu 


!  IJan 

-SV  ■  ■ilaiu'..  H  .  (r  .  •  die 


resist  it, 
ble;  fn 


. 


die  ruling 
:.tl  occupied 
oere  three 
statues,  Vur  !r  '  1 

gardens. 

Bourbon,  “how  1 
,my  faith,  it  see;, 
presence  of  Adam 
paradise !” 

In  May  the  Frenc  m  ** 

this  was  nearly  as  disasi  # 

By  October,  when  they  r< 
every  advantage  won  ir 

troops,  moreover,  had  b  .va; 

all  the  JCing’s  rich  c  :»  1  ,  iore  serioi 

of  these  misfortune  »ed  by  ( 

1  Ferdinand  I  of  An  ?nt  whi 


the  year  before.  His  sue 
abdicated  in  favor  of  his  s 


»7 


PORTAL  OF  CHAPEL  OF  ST.  HUBERT 


AMBOISE 

tower  to  the  outer  walls;  a  construction  of  enormous  difficulty- 
owing  to  the  great  weight,  the  oblique  direction  of  the  arches, 
and  the  varying  width  of  the  intervening  spaces.  The  logis  du 
Roi  contains .  the  summer  and  winter  Guard  rooms  and  the 
Salles  des  fitats  from  which  opens  the  “Huguenot  Balcony.” 

In  the  summer  of  1494  Charles  set  forth  on  his  great  expe¬ 
dition  very  gallant  and  hopeful,  and  indeed  the  advance  through 
Italy  was  nothing  short  of  a  succession  of  triumphs.  At  Milan 
the  new  Duke,  Ludovico  the  Moor,  made  a  treaty  with  the 
French  King;  at  Florence  Pierro  de  Medicis  did  the  same, 
though  Savonarola  remonstrated  and  tried  hard  to  arouse  the 
people  to  resist  it;  and  at  Rome  the  Pope,  Alexander  VI,  was 
equally  affable;  finally,  when  the  army  reached  Naples  in  Feb¬ 
ruary  the  ruling  House  of  Arragon  was  driven  out  and  the 
capital  occupied  almost  without  fighting.1  Charles  remained 
there  three  months  busily  employed  in  collecting  books, 
statues,  furniture  and  tapestries,  and  in  visiting  the  palaces  and 
gardens.  “You  would  not  believe,”  he  writes  to  Pierre  de 
Bourbon,  “how  beautiful  the  gardens  are  in  this  town.  On 
my  faith,  it  seems  as  though  nothing  were  needed  but  the 
presence  of  Adam  and  Eve  to  turn  it  into  a  veritable  earthly 
paradise !” 

In  May  the  French  army  set  out  on  the  return  march,  but 
this  was  nearly  as  disastrous  as  the  advance  had  been  fortunate. 
By  October,  when  they  regained  their  own  country,  nearly 
every  advantage  won  in  Italy  had  been  lost.  The  Venetian 
troops,  moreover,  had  captured  the  baggage  wagons  containing 
all  the  King’s  rich  collections;  but  far  more  serious  than  any 
of  these  misfortunes,  the  Dauphin,  described  by  Gentile  Becchi, 

1  Ferdinand  I  of  Arragon  had  died  II,  at  the  moment  when  the  French  were 
the  year  before.  His  successor,  Alfonso,  before  the  walls  of  Naples, 
abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son,  Ferdinand 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


the  Florentine  Ambassador,  as  a  bcl  enfant,  Ic  joyau  da  roy- 
aume,  had  died.  The  King  and  Queen  shut  themselves  up 
at  Amboise  and  brooded  so  heavily  over  their  loss  that  the 
courtiers  organized  a  fete  in  order  to  divert  their  minds.  Un¬ 
fortunately  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  whom  the  Dauphin’s  death 
had  made  heir  presumptive  to  the  throne,  entered  too  heartily 
into  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  and  danced  and  skipped  about 
so  joyously  that  the  Queen’s  feelings  were  outraged.  She  re¬ 
proached  him  angrily  for  his  conduct  and  for  some  months  he 
was  obliged  to  absent  himself  from  court.  Hardly  more  than  two 
years  later  Charles  himself  died  at  Amboise  under  distressing 
circumstances.  “The  eight  day  of  Aprill,"  writes  Philippe  de 
Commines,1  “the  vere  1498,  upon  Palm  Sunday  even,  the  King 
being  in  this  glorie  as  touching  the  world,  and  in  this  good  minde 
towards  God :  departed  out  of  the  chamber  of  Queene  Anne, 
Duches  of  Britaine,  his  wife,  leading  her  with  him  to  see  the  ten- 
nice  plaiers  in  the  trenches  of  the  castle,  whither  he  had  never  led 
her  before,  and  they  two  entred  togither  into  a  gallerie,  called 
Haquelebac’s  gallerie,  because  the  said  Haquelebac  had  in  times 
past  held  watch  and  ward  in  it.  It  was  the  uncleanest  place 
about  the  castle,  and  the  entrie  into  it  was  broken  downe :  more¬ 
over,  the  King,  as  he  entred,  knocked  his  browe  against  the 
doors;  notwithstanding  that  he  were  of  verie  small  stature. 
Afterward  he  beheld  a  great  while  the  tennice  playing,  talking 
familiarly  with  all  men.  My  selfe  was  not  present  there,  but 
his  confessor,  the  Bishop  of  Angers,  and  those  of  his  chamber 
that  were  neerest  about  him,  have  enformed  me  of  this  I  write: 
for  as  touching  my  selfe,  I  was  gone  home  eight  daies  before  to 
my  house.  The  last  word  that  he  spake  being  in  health  was, 
that  he  hoped  never  after  to  commit  deadly  sin  nor  veniall  if 


1  Danett’s  Commines.  The  Tudor  Translations,  XVIII. 
l82 


CHAPEL  OF  ST.  HUBERT  AND  TOUR  HEURTAULT 


□use. 


AMBOISE 


he  could:  in  uttering  the  which  words  he  fell  backward  and 
lost  his  speech,  about  two  of  the  clocke  at  after  noone,  and 
abode  in  this  gallerie  till  eleven  of  the  clocke  at  night.  Thrise 
he  recovered  his  speech,  but  it  continued  not  with  him,  as  the 
said  confessor  told  me,  who  had  shriven  him  twise  that  weeke, 
once  of  ordinarie,  and  once  for  those  that  came  to  be  cured  of 
the  King’s  evill.  Every  man  that  listed  entred  into  the  gallerie, 
where  he  lay  upon  an  olde  mattresse  of  strawe,  from  the  which 
he  never  arose  till  he  gave  up  the  ghost,  so  that  nine  howers 
he  continued  upon  it.  The  saide  confessor,  who  was  continually 
by  him,  told  me  that  all  the  three  times  he  recovered  his  speech 
he  cried :  My  God,  and  the  glorious  Virgin  Marie,  Saint  Claude, 
and  Saint  Blase,  help  me.  Thus  departed  out  of  this  world 
this  mightie  puissant  Prince  in  this  miserable  place,  not  being 
able  to  recover  one  poore  chamber  to  die  in:  notwithstanding 
he  had  so  many  goodly  houses,  and  built  one  so  sumptuous  at 
that  present.”1 

A  little  door  at  the  end  of  a  terrace  at  Amboise  is  erroneously 
pointed  out  as  the  one  against  which  King  Charles  struck  his 
head  on  that  fatal  Palm  Sunday.  The  Haquelebac  gallery  and 
the  door  leading  to  it  were  both  destroyed  in  the  last  century, 
and  this  door,  which  is  surmounted  by  the  porcupine  of  Louis 
XII,  dates  only  from  that  monarch’s  time. 

As  soon  as  the  elaborate  funeral  ceremonies  were  over  the 
new  King,  Louis  XII,  prepared  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of 
the  marriage  contract  of  Langeais.2  In  the  month  of  August 
hearings  were  begun  before  an  ecclesiastical  court  with  the 
object  of  annulling  the  marriage  contracted  twenty-two  years 
before  between  the  King  and  Princess  Jeanne  of  France.  The 

1  The  account-books  of  Amboise  show  the  chateau,  of  which  there  were  at  that 
that  King  Charles  had  spent  5,700  hvres  time  forty-five, 
on  the  furnishings  alone  of  the  beds  in  2  Seep.  161. 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURA1NE 

proceedings  dragged  on  for  four  months  and  the  unfortunate 
Princess,  although  subjected  to  the  most  humiliating  questions, 
was  the  only  person  concerned  to  emerge  from  the  affair  with 
credit.  She  constantly  affirmed  and  with  great  dignity  and 
simplicity  that  there  was  no  cause  for  which  she  could  legally 
be  repudiated,  but  in  spite  of  her  protestations  the  marriage  was 
declared  void.  The  Queen  went  into  a  dignified  retirement  at 
Bourges  and  devoted  herself  to  good  works,  but  from  the  people 
she  got  justice.  “There  goes  Caiaphas!”  they  would  cry  after 
the  ecclesiastics  who  composed  the  court,  “There  goes  Herod! 
There  goes  Pilate!  The  false  judges  who  said  that  that  high¬ 
born  lady  is  not  the  true  Queen  of  France!” 

These  things  made  the  project  of  Louis’s  re-marriage  with 
herself  very  distasteful  to  Anne  of  Brittany.  At  first  she  flatly 
refused,  declaring  that  “all  the  decrees  in  the  world  would  never 
make  anything  of  her  but  the  King’s  concubine!”  but  she  soon 
gave  in,  and  on  8th  January,  1499,  Ess  than  nine  months  after 
King  Charles’s  death,  she  and  Louis  were  married  at  Nantes. 
They  spent  the  rest  of  the  winter  travelling  about  in  Brittany 
and  France,  and  in  April  were  to  make  their  state  entry  into 
Amboise.  The  town  outdid  itself  in  the  preparation  of  tri¬ 
umphal  arches,  garlands,  and  processions;  the  entire  space 
between  the  chateau  and  the  river  was  converted  into  a  covered 
pavilion,  in  the  centre  of  which  rose  two  columns  supporting, 
respectively,  an  ermine  and  a  porcupine,  from  whose  mouths 
flowed  streams  of  wine;  and  canopies  covered  with  red  and 
white  damask  were  erected  for  the  King  and  Queen.  The 
latter  alone,  however,  appeared  to  take  part  in  the  ceremony, 
and  the  absence  of  the  King  has  been  oddly  attributed  to  une 
attention  delicate,  a  dread  on  his  part  of  arousing  painful  mem¬ 
ories  in  his  wife’s  mind  bv  appearing  at  that  place  by  her  side. 

186 


AMBOISE 


Louis  XII  added  a  wing  to  the  chateau  of  Amboise,  the  one 
still  standing  at  right  angles  with  the  logis  du  Roi.  In  it  are 
seen  his  own  and  the  Queen’s  apartments,  all  now  very  beauti¬ 
fully  restored.  The  King  also  made  some  improvements  in 
the  gardens,  already  under  his  predecessor,  famed  for  their 
beauty.  There  is  a  tradition  that  the  first  orange-trees  seen 
in  France  were  planted  there  by  Charles  VIII’s  Italian  land¬ 
scape-gardener,  Passelo  da  Mercogliano. 

Usually,  however,  Louis  XII  preferred  the  old  chateau  of 
the  Orleans  family  at  Blois,  where  he  was  born,  and  in  1518 
Amboise  was  assigned  as  the  residence  of  Louise  of  Savoy  and 
of  her  son,  Francis,  Prince  of  Angouleme,  afterwards  Francis 
I,  who  was  then  heir  presumptive  to  the  throne  and  betrothed 
to  Claude  of  France,  the  elder  of  the  two  daughters  of  King 
Louis  and  Anne  of  Brittany.  Although  this  Prince  did  some 
building  at  Amboise,  he  was  chiefly  occupied  after  his  accession 
with  his  great  constructions  at  Blois,  at  Chambord  and  at 
Fontainebleau.  It  was,  however,  at  Amboise  that  he  mag¬ 
nificently  entertained  Charles  V  when  the  Emperor  passed 
through  France  in  1539.  The  great  Heurtault  tower  was  hung 
on  that  occasion  with  tapestries  from  foot  to  summit  and  lighted 
by  so  many  torches  that  it  was  aussi  clair  qu’ en  un  compagne 
en  pleine  midy,  as  the  old  account  puts  it. 

In  Henry  IPs  time  the  court  still  came  occasionally  to 
Amboise,  and  Diane  of  Poitiers  bought  ground  there  adjoining 
the  royal  gardens  and  had  plans  drawn  up  for  une  maison, 
jardins,  vergers  et  aultres  choses,  which  she  proposed  to  con¬ 
struct,  but  never  did.  During  the  Religious  Wars  the  forti¬ 
fications  of  the  chateau  were  strengthened  and  the  place 
assumed  more  and  more  the  character  of  a  stronghold  to  which 
the  royal  family  might  retire  in  times  of  disturbance.  It  is 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


in  this  phase  that  we  find  it  becoming  in  the  second  half  of  the 
XVIth  century  the  scene  of  one  of  the  most  tragic  events  of 
that  stormy  period. 

On  the  accession  of  Francis  II,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  his 
wife’s  two  uncles,  Francis,  Duke  of  Guise,  and  Cardinal  Lor¬ 
raine,  got  complete  control  of  the  government,  to  the  great 
dissatisfaction  not  only  of  the  Protestant  party,  but  of  the 
Oueen-mother  and  of  the  rival  House  of  Bourbon.  Early  in 
the  year  1560  a  plot  was  formed  to  break  down  the  power  of 
the  Guises.  The  chateau  of  Blois,  where  the  court  was  assem¬ 
bled,  was  to  be  seized,  the  Duke  and  the  Cardinal  were  to  be 
made  prisoners  and  impeached  before  the  States-General,  and 
Anthony  de  Bourbon,  King  of  Navarre,  and  his  brother,  the 
Prince  of  Conde,  were  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  affairs.  Al¬ 
though  the  conspiracy  was  actually  directed  by  Conde,  the 
nominal  leader  was  an  obscure  personage,  named  La  Renaudie, 
who  had  been  condemned  some  time  previously  for  forgery,  and 
had  fled  to  Geneva,  where  he  had  been  converted  to  Protes- 
antism.  Recruits  on  being  enrolled  were  required  to  take  an 
oath  of  allegiance  to  “the  silent  Captain,”  by  whom  Conde  was 
understood  to  be  meant,  but  his  name  was  never  used. 

Towards  the  end  of  February,  when  plans  to  surprise  Blois 
were  nearly  completed  the  conspirators  were  thrown  into  sudden 
confusion  by  the  unexpected  departure  of  the  court  for  Amboise. 
Everything  had  to  be  changed,  and,  moreover,  just  at  this 
juncture  the  Guises  got  their  first  intimation  of  the  plot.  Ar¬ 
rived  at  Amboise,  they  instantly  took  measures  for  their  own 
safetv.  The  gate  leading  into  the  town  was  walled  up;  the 
castle  guards  were  replaced  by  partisans  of  their  own ;  squads 
of  cavalry  patrolled  the  neighboring  highroads,  and  the  royal 
garrisons  at  Orleans,  Bourges,  Tours  and  Angers  were  put 

188 


.  c  Duke  could 


orders  for 
the 

■ 


.  '  of  the  plot 

■ 

■ 

. 

S' 


mosui  .0/  8I  JO.I  -fo  {)■■/■■>■  qyj  HHi/i'ivnr/!  y  jot 

face  upon  tb 
])!•■•  I  plan. 

the 


; 

’ 

*. .  ■  •  <t%-  .  ■  *  ■  it  n. 

. 


TOUR  MINIMES  AND  WING  OF  LOUIS  XII,  AMBOISE 


AMBOISE 


under  the  command  of  captains  upon  whom  the  Duke  could 
absolutely  rely.  From  time  to  time  further  details  of  the  plot 
leaked  out,  all  tending  to  show  that  the  person  of  the  King 
was  not  in  the  smallest  danger,  and  that  the  Guises  alone  were 
the  object  of  attack.  This  being  perfectly  understood,  the  court 
bore  the  two  ministers  a  hearty  grudge  for  the  confinement  and 
restriction  to  which  all  were  subjected  merely  to  provide  for 
their  safety. 

The  conspirators,  meanwhile,  had  established  their  head¬ 
quarters  at  a  neighboring  chateau  called  Noizay,  from  whence 
orders  for  the  attack  on  the  castle  were  to  be  issued.  Before 
the  appointed  day,  however,  this  place  was  surprised  by  a  party 
of  royal  troops,  and  the  garrison  was  captured  en  masse.  After 
this  check  everything  went  wrong.  Conde,  who  arrived  at 
Court  on  the  very  day  of  the  disaster,  instantly  abandoned 
the  cause  and  thenceforth  thought  only  of  how  to  put  the  best 
face  upon  the  affair,  while  his  deluded  followers  continued  to 
plot  and  plan,  still  counting  upon  his  help. 

The  arrangement  was  to  surprise  the  castle  on  the  night  of 
the  1 6th  March,  and  the  main  body  of  the  Protestants  was 
to  come  from  Blois  in  time  to  lead  the  attack.  Unfortunately 
they  mistook  the  road  and  only  arrived  at  daybreak,  the  Guises 
meanwhile  having  been  fully  informed  of  their  approach.  The 
attempt  was  an  utter  failure;  not  a  single  one  of  all  the  sym¬ 
pathizers  upon  whose  cooperation  from  within  the  chateau 
they  had  counted  was  left,  and  after  the  first  repulse  the  attack¬ 
ing  party  fled  in  disorder.  Parties  of  cavalry  were  sent  to 
chase  the  discomfited  Protestants  and  returned  to  the  chateau 
bringing  in  their  prisoners  in  batches.  So  harmless  did  these 
appear  that  for  a  time  the  Guises  talked  of  a  general  pardon, 
but  only  for  a  time.  As  they  realized  that  they  had  been  de- 

T9T 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

nounced  throughout  the  country  as  enemies  of  the  State  they 
became  furious.  The  Duke  had  himself  named  Lieutenant- 
general  of  the  kingdom  with  unrestricted  powers,  and  decrees 
were  issued  condemning  all  the  leaders  of  the  plot  to  death.  La 
Renaudie  had  already  been  killed  in  a  skirmish  in  the  neigh¬ 
boring  forest. 

Before  long  the  entire  Protestant  community  became  in¬ 
volved  in  an  indiscriminate  slaughter.  Farmers,  artisans,  mer¬ 
chants,  non-combatants  of  every  degree,  were  seized  by  the 
soldiers  in  the  fields  and  roads  and  woods,  and  either  killed 
on  the  spot  or  dragged  off  to  be  hanged  from  improvised  gibbets 
in  the  chateau,  or  else  tied  hand  and  foot  and  flung  into  the 
Loire.  For  the  chiefs,  a  more  dramatic  ending  was  reserved. 

Towards  the  end  of  March  notices  were  read  from  the  pulpits 
of  the  neighboring  parish  churches  of  an  “act  of  faith”  shortly 
to  be  accomplished  at  the  chateau.  As  this  was  understood  to 
mean  nothing  else  than  the  execution  of  all  the  remaining 
prisoners  the  interest  was  widespread.  On  the  eve  of  the 
appointed  day  people  poured  in  in  crowds  from  the  surrounding 
country;  thousands  are  said  to  have  camped  out  all  night  on 
a  nearby  hilltop,  while  dormer  windows  and  roofs  commanding 
a  view  of  the  scaffold  were  leased  for  prices  unheard  of  till 
that  day. 

Within  the  castle  all  was  arranged  as  for  a  fete;  seats  were 
erected  in  tiers  for  the  accommodation  of  the  ladies  and  gentle¬ 
men  of  the  court  around  the  open  space  where  the  executions 
were  to  take  place,  while  the  wrought-iron  balcony  opening 
from  the  logis  du  Roi  was  reserved  for  the  royal  family  and 
distinguished  guests. 

Immediately  after  dinner  on  30th  March  the  band  of  fifty- 
seven  Protestant  gentlemen  was  conducted  to  the  foot  of  the 


192 


CHATEAU 


OF  AMBOISE,  CHAPEL  OF  ST.  HUBERT  AND 
TOUR  HEURTAULT 


AMBOISE 

scaffold,  chanting  Clement  Marot’s  metrical  version  of  the 
LXVIth  psalm: 

Dieu  nous  soit  doux  et  favorable, 

Nous  benissant  par  sa  bonte, 

Et  de  son  visage  adorable 
Nous  fasse  luire  la  clarte. 

The  Duke  of  Guise  on  horseback  took  his  place  close  to  the 
scaffold,  the  benches  were  filled  with  groups  of  chattering  and 
expectant  courtiers,  and  above,  the  reluctant  King,  who  would 
fain  have  stayed  away,  but  was  afraid  to,  took  his  seat  upon 
the  balcony  between  his  young  Queen,  Mary  Stuart,  and  his 
mother,  Catherine  de  Medicis.  With  them  were  Cardinal  Lor¬ 
raine,  the  Papal  Nuncio,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Just  as 
the  signal  to  begin  was  about  to  be  given,  Conde  stepped 
through  the  window  and  took  his  place  beside  the  Queen.  At 
the  sight  of  their  “silent  Captain”  the  group  at  the  foot  of  the 
scaffold  with  one  accord  saluted,  and  Conde  gravely  returned 
the  salute.  Then  the  first  name  was  called  and  the  first  head 
was  laid  upon  the  block,  followed  by  another  and  still  another, 
the  sound  of  the  chanting  growing  ever  fainter  and  fainter, 
until  at  last  one  voice  alone,  that  of  the  Baron  of  Castelnau- 
Chalosse,  was  heard: 

‘Dieu  nous  soit  doux  et  favorable  .  .  . 

The  executioner  raised  his  axe,  the  Cardinal  gave  the  signal, 
and  the  last  head  fell. 

The  Court  by  this  time  was  thoroughly  surfeited,  while  the 
young  King  was  barely  able  to  sit  the  spectacle  out.  To  be 
“rid  of  the  blood,”  therefore  they  all  took  horse  on  the  following 
day  and  rode  off  to  Chenonceaux,  where  the  Queen-mother 
soon  made  them  forget  everything  in  a  series  of  festivities. 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

The  country,  however,  did  not  forget,  and  one  result  of  the 
butcheries  at  Amboise  was  to  plunge  France  into  thirty-five 
years  of  civil  war,  lightened,  it  may  be,  though  for  only  a  brief 
period,  by  the  “Edict  of  Amboise,”  published  three  years  later, 
when  the  Queen-mother  was  forced  to  grant  liberty  to  the 
Huguenots  for  the  free  exercise  of  their  religion  except  in 
certain  towns  and  districts. 

The  chateau  was  never  again  very  popular  as  a  dwelling- 
place.  Richelieu  turned  it  into  a  state  prison  and  sent  Cesar, 
Duke  of  Vendome,  and  his  brother,  the  Grand  Prior,  there 
after  the  discovery  of  the  Chalais  conspiracy.1 

Fouquet,  the  disgraced  minister  of  Louis  XIV,  was  also 
imprisoned  at  Amboise,  and  in  1663  La  Fontaine,  his  ardent 
admirer,  made  a  sort  of  passionate  pilgrimage  thither  to  view 
the  scene  of  his  friend’s  sufferings: 

“They  have  walled  up  the  windows  of  his  room,”  he  wrote 
to  his  wife,  “and  I  could  not  get  in,  as  the  soldier  who  took 
me  around  had  no  key.  All  I  could  do  was  to  stand  in  front 
of  the  door  and  try  to  picture  it  for  myself : 

Chambre  muree,  etroite  place, 

Quelque  peu  d’air  pour  toute  grace, 

Jours  sans  soleil, 

Nuits  sans  sommeil, 

Trois  portes  en  six  pieds  d’espace! 

If  night  had  not  fallen  they  would  never  have  dragged  me 
from  the  spot!” 

Although  subsequently  used  occasionally  as  a  state  prison, 
Amboise  has  for  the  most  part  been  the  property  of  the  Orleans 
family  since  the  beginning  of  the  XVIIth  century,  when  it 
was  given  to  Gaston  of  Orleans.2  At  the  Revolution  it  was 

J  See  page  286. 

2  Before  the  Revolution  it  belonged  for  a  short  time  to  the  Duke  of  Choiseul. 

I96 


CHATEAU  OF  AMBOISE:  VIEW  FROM  THE  BRIDGE  OVER 

THE  LOIRE 


. 


AM J/.-v  i if 


Tilff  ' 

mmmM 


;;:^,.;'v':.1 


^.jr  ...  iii 


Mm 


mm 


\  ';r 

,l\,  : 


tS&  ^  fctfsg?* 


or 


K»nn 


L.;,-.l 


AMBOISE 

taken  from  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  and  later  given  by  Napoleon 
to  his  former  colleague,  the  Consul  Roger  Ducos,  by  whom  it 
was  terribly  maltreated.  Either  because  he  found  them  too 
costly  to  maintain  or  out  of  pure  love  of  destruction,  Ducos 
pulled  down  a  number  of  the  buildings  outright,  established  a 
manufactory  in  one  wing,  and  covered  the  beautiful  carvings 
and  reliefs  of  the  age  of  Charles  VIII  and  Louis  XII  with 
thick  coats  of  plaster. 

At  the  Restoration  in  1814  the  chateau  of  Amboise  returned 
to  the  family  of  Orleans,  of  whom  Louis  Philippe,  elected  to  the 
throne  on  the  fall  of  the  Bourbons  sixteen  years  later,  was  then 
the  head.  Louis  Philippe  s  government  and  the  French  mon¬ 
archy  ended  simultaneously  in  the  Revolution  of  1848,  and 
just  prior  to  that  event  Amboise  received  its  last  distinguished 
prisoner,  the  Emir  Ahd  el  Kader.  This  young  Arab  chief  had 
been  conducting  a  Holy  War  in  Morocco  with  the  object  of  driv¬ 
ing  the  French  out  of  Algeria.  In  December,  1847,  finding  his 
cause  hopeless,  he  surrendered  to  the  Duke  of  Aumale,  Louis 
Philippe’s  second  son,  on  the  understanding  that  he  would  not 
be  sent  anywhere  but  to  Syria  or  to  Egypt.  The  home  Govern¬ 
ment,  however,  refused  to  keep  to  this  agreement,  and  the 
Emir  was  taken  to  France  and  confined  in  the  chateau  of 
Amboise  until  the  autumn  of  1852,  when  Louis  Napoleon,  then 
President  of  the  Second  Republic,  restored  him  to  liberty. 
Twenty  years  later,  by  Act  of  the  National  Assembly,  Amboise 
was  given  back  to  the  Orleans  family,  and  to  them  it  has  ever 
since  belonged. 


199 


LT  t 
A  i  .'il’ 


■ 

:  court 

•  ;  C!  Orleans, 


he  close  of  tl 
brother  of  K 


■■'Irr  •  >:  LouiS  XU, 


already  extr 

Original  y  upon  whi  h  the 

, 

f  rst  about  th 
ancestor  of  th 

h  th  exception  of 

.the  so-called. 

du  Moulin,  n  e  position 

■vas  forir  >ht-  u, 

.  shed  L  >,oi  -since 

dried  up  a  huge 

moat,  on  o  \  wall  of 


defer 


-  this  wall 

■; 


c:.  '  ■  ■ 


■ 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  CHATEAU  OF  BLOIS  (FACADE  OF  LOUIS  XII) 


CHAPTER  VIII 


BLOIS 

ALTHOUGH  he  added  an  imposing  wing  to  the  palace  of 
Amboise,  Louis  XII  usually  preferred  to  hold  his  court 
L  at  Blois.  This  domain  came  to  the  Orleans  family  about 
the  close  of  the  XIVth  century,  when  Louis,  Duke  of  Orleans, 
brother  of  King  Charles  VI  and  grandfather  of  Louis  XII, 
obtained  from  the  crown  the  county  of  Blois  in  addition  to  his 
already  extensive  possessions. 

Originally  the  triangular-shaped  plateau  upon  which  the 
chateau  stands  held  a  Roman  fortress.  This  was  twice  rebuilt, 
first  about  the  middle  of  the  Xth  century  by  Thibaud  the  Cheat, 
ancestor  of  the  early  Counts  of  Blois,  and  again  in  the  Xlllth 
century  by  one  of  his  descendants,  but,  with  the  exception  of 
the  so-called  “Salle  des  Ltats”  and  a  part  of  the  round  Tour 
du  Moulin,  none  of  these  early  buildings  remain.  The  position 
was  formerly  far  stronger,  for  the  steep  sides  of  the  plateau, 
washed  by  the  waters  of  the  Loire  and  of  the  Arroux— -since 
dried  up —on  the  south,  east  and  north,  and  by  those  of  a  huge 
moat  on  the  west,  were  further  protected  by  a  massive  wall  of 
defence.  Some  remains  of  the  towers  that  guarded  this  wall 
can  still  be  seen  embedded  in  the  neighboring  buildings  of 
the  town. 


205 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

The  first  Orleans  Count  of  Blois  possessed  all  those  traits 
which  for  several  generations  seem  to  have  characterized  the 
Dukes  of  Orleans.  A  delicate,  volatile  creature,  with  much 
personal  charm.  A  lover  of  music  and  of  poetry,  a  gambler 
and  voluptuary,  extravagant,  luxurious,  ambitious. 

Early  in  the  reign  of  his  brother,  Charles  VI,  a  rivalry  broke 
out  between  him  and  his  powerful  uncle,  Philippe  le  Hardi, 
Duke  of  Burgundy.  As  the  King’s  attacks  of  madness  became 
more  frequent  this  jealously  between  the  heads  of  the  two  great 
houses  increased,  and  the  Queen,  Isabelle  of  Bavaria,  utterly 
without  principle  herself,  played  them  off  the  one  against  the 
other. 

Philippe  le  Hardi  died  in  1404,  and  for  a  time  his  successor, 
Jean  sans  Peur,  was  too  much  taken  up  with  affairs  in  Bur¬ 
gundy  to  frequent  the  Court;  but  before  long  there  was  trouble 
brewing  between  the  cousins.  In  the  autumn  of  1407  they 
were  both  in  Paris,  where  the  Court  was  assembled.  The  Queen 
had  just  given  birth  to  her  twelfth  child,  and,  on  the  evening 
of  23d  November,  the  Duke  of  Orleans  went  to  pay  his  respects 
to  her  at  the  Hotel  Barbette  in  the  Marais  quarter  of  Paris. 
At  about  eight  o’clock  he  took  his  leave,  and,  mounting  his 
mule,  started  to  ride  home  accompanied  only  by  eight  or  ten 
followers  and  by  two  or  three  torch-bearers,  who  led  the  way. 
The  Duke  was  bare-headed;  as  he  rode  along  he  flapped  one 
glove  in  the  air  and  gaily  hummed  a  tune.  The  escort  had 
lagged  behind,  when  suddenly  a  cry  was  heard  of  “Murder!” 
followed  by  a  fleeting  glimpse  of  a  kneeling  figure  in  the  middle 
of  the  street,  set  upon  by  an  armed  band.  Then  the  torches 
were  extinguished  and  all  was  silent  save  for  a  few  groans  and 
the  noise  of  rapidly  retreating  footsteps.  Lights  were  brought 
from  a  neighboring  house  and  a  young  German  esquire  was 

206 


<  V. 


GRAND  STAIRCASE  OF  FRANCIS  I 


BLOIS 

found  lying  mortally  wounded,  and  near  him  the  body  of  the 
Duke  of  Orleans.1 

Two  days  later  Jean  sans  Peur  admitted  that  “at  the  insti¬ 
gation  of  the  Devil”  he  had  ordered  the  murder.  Then  he 
quitted  Paris.  The  King,  who  was  very  fond  of  his  brother 
and  who  was  outraged  at  the  boldness  of  the  crime,  issued 
letters  excluding  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  from  the  Government 
in  case  of  a  Regency,  but  after  that  nothing  more  was  done. 
The  beautiful  widowed  Duchess,  Valentine  Visconti,  after 
pleading  in  vain  for  justice,  was  fain  to  retire  with  her  grief 
and  her  bitter  sense  of  injury  to  Blois,  taking  with  her  the 
young  Duke,  Charles,  but  sixteen  years  old,  and  his  wife, 
Isabelle  of  France,  widow  of  King  Richard  II  of  England. 

The  murdered  Duke  had  made  some  additions  to  the  chateau, 
but  for  thirty  years  and  more  after  his  death  the  family  was 
in  no  condition  to  be  occupied  with  such  matters.  In  1408 
Valentine  Visconti  died,  followed  shortly  by  the  Princess  Isa¬ 
belle.  Duke  Charles,  the  Poet-Prince,  then  strengthened  his 
party  and  gave  it  a  name  by  marrying  the  daughter  of 
Bernard  VII  of  Armagnac,  but  in  1415  he  was  taken  prisoner 
at  Azincourt  and  carried  off  to  a  twenty-five  years’  captivity  in 
England. 

One  of  Henry  V’s  death-bed  injunctions  was  to  keep  the 
then  childless  Duke  of  Orleans  a  close  prisoner,  so  that  he 
might  have  no  son  to  contest  England’s  claim  to  the  French 
throne.  Nevertheless,  in  1440  the  Duke  was  ransomed  for 
an  enormous  sum,  and  being  again  a  widower,  he  sealed  the 
reconciliation  of  his  house  with  that  of  Burgundy  by  marrying 
Mary  of  Cleves,  a  niece  of  the  reigning  Duke,  Philip  the  Good. 

The  Poet-Prince  of  Orleans  took  but  little  part  in  public 


19 


'See  E.  Lavisse,  “Hist,  de  France,”  t.  4;  p.  1;  E.  Coville. 

209 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

affairs  after  his  return  to  France.  Fie  passed  his  time  mainly 
at  Blois,  writing-  verses  and  adding  buildings  to  the  chateau, 
and  there  in  1462  his  only  son,  the  future  King  Louis  XII. 
was  born. 

The  chateau  as  we  see  it  to-day  covers  about  one-half  of  the 
site  of  the  ancient  citadel.  The  other  half  is  laid  out  in  a  shady 
square  surrounded  by  buildings,  among  which  is  the  XVth 
century  hotel  of  Cardinal  Georges  d’Amboise.1  Across  the 
west  end  of  the  square  extends  the  wing  of  Louis  XII,  abutting 
on  the  right  on  the  great  Xlllth  century  Salle  des  Ltats,  or, 
to  give  it  its  proper  name,  the  “Grand’Salle  of  the  Counts  of 
Blois.” 

“It  is  much  to  be  regretted,”  says  M.  E.  Le  Nail,  the  author 
of  a  very  complete  account  of  the  chateau  of  Blois,  “that  the 
modern  name  given  to  this  room— the  ‘Salle  des  Ltats’  — 
should  cause  us  to  overlook  its  earlier  and  more  characteristic 
history.  The  Grand’Salle  of  the  palace  of  the  Middle  Ages 
was  the  place  where  the  sovereign  assembled  his  vassals  on 
all  the  most  solemn  occasions.  .  .  the  scene  of  state  entertain¬ 
ments  and  of  important  ceremonies,  the  witness  of  the  entire 
public  life  of  the  great  barons.  A  Frankish  institution  par 
excellence,  its  origins  are  lost  in  the  beginnings  of  the  very 
nation  itself.  .  .  .  Besides  that  of  Blois,  the  only  existing 

Grand’Salles,  properly  so  called,  are  those  of  Angers,  Xlth 
century;  of  Sens,  Xlllth  century;  of  Poitiers,  Xlllth  and  XVth 
centuries;  and  of  Narbonne,  XIVth  century.” 

The  walls  of  the  Grand'Salle  of  Blois,  with  some  of  the 
woodwork,  and  the  row  of  columns  that  divide  the  interior, 
all  belong  to  the  original  building. 

The  wing  of  Louis  XII,  built  some  time  prior  to  1502,  is 
of  small  black  and  red  bricks  with  facings  and  window-frames 

1  See  p.  314. 


210 


BLOIS 


of  light  stone.  It  has  a  steep  slate  roof  broken  by  carved  stone 
dormer  windows,  between  which  are  a  row  of  smaller  dormers 
of  gilded  and  painted  wood.  The  ornamentation  is  extremely 
rich  and  varied,  especially  in  the  details  of  the  main  portal, 
which  is  surmounted  by  a  gothic  niche  with  a  double  canopy 
above  an  equestrian  statue  of  Louis  XII  and  flanked  by  carved 
columns  running  up  to  the  roof.  Everywhere  are  introduced 
the  initials  of  Louis  and  of  Anne  of  Brittany,  the  porcupine, 
the  ermine  and  the  cordelier.  There  is  no  attempt  at  symmetry 
in  the  two  sides  of  the  fagade.  The  spacing,  details  of  the 
ornamentation,  even  the  size  and  shape  of  the  windows,  vary 
considerably;  yet  the  effect  of  the  whole  is  homogeneous  and 
graceful  in  the  extreme.  The  comparatively  plain  section  on 
the  right  contained  the  kitchens  and  offices.  On  the  west  side 
of  the  wing  facing  the  court  is  an  arcade  with  twisted  columns 
said  to  be  copied  from  the  one  formerly  seen  at  Plessis-les- 
Tours,  built  by  Louis’s  father-in-law,  Louis  XI. 

The  plan  of  the  chateau  of  Blois  is  an  irregular  quadrilateral. 
On  the  northwest  is  the  Grand’Salle  joined  to  Louis  XII’s 
wing  on  the  east  by  a  square  stair-tower.  On  the  south  is  the 
chapel  of  St.  Calais,  also  built  by  Louis  XII,  on  the  site  of  a 
much  earlier  church  and  entered  through  a  gallery  supporting 
a  small  building  which  is  all  that  is  left  of  the  XVth  century 
additions  of  the  murdered  Duke  of  Orleans.  On  the  north  is 
the  wing  designed  in  the  XVIIth  century  by  Mansard  for 
Gaston  of  Orleans,  who,  in  order  to  erect  it  on  this  site,  pulled 
down  all  the  buildings  of  the  Poet-Prince,  Charles  of  Orleans. 
Finally,  on  the  north  extends  the  great  wing  built  by  Francis  I, 
which  occupies  the  site  of  the  early  feudal  fortress,  some  of 
whose  walls  and  towers  are  incorporated  into  it. 

Seen  amidst  such  surroundings  Mansard’s  wing  has  a  hope¬ 
lessly  chilling  effect.  It  is  in  vain  that  the  French  writers  call  at- 


21  I 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

tention  to  the  monumental  stairway — “assuredly  one  of  the 
handsomest  and  most  complete  examples  of  its  kind  in  exist¬ 
ence,”  and  to  the  dignity  of  the  faqade  with  its  superimposed  or¬ 
ders  ;  nothing  can  efface  the  general  impression  of  dreariness 
and  of  shabby  neglect,  and  it  is  with  relief  that  one  turns  to  that 
long  line  of  building  of  Francis  I  on  the  north,  which  may 
be  said  to  represent  almost  the  final  expression  of  the  true 
French  Renaissance. 

“This  wing,”  says  M.  Le  Nail,  “is  the  most  remarkable  part 
of  the  chateau  ....  and  is,  in  a  sense,  unique  in  France.  On 
the  north,  the  side  overlooking  the  town,  the  three  upper  stories 
are  arranged  after  the  Roman  order,  then  coming  into  vogue; 
but  everywhere  the  French  influence  is  still  dominant.  Before 
long,  at  Fontainebleau,  this  will  wholly  disappear,  engulfed 
in  the  Italian  style.  At  Blois,  therefore,  are  seen  the  very 
last  of  those  royal  constructions  upon  which  the  beautiful 
and  noble  French  school  has  set  the  stamp  of  its  fer¬ 
tile  genius.” 

On  the  south,  the  line  of  the  building  is  broken  by  a  carved 
spiral  staircase  of  wonderful  richness,  extending  out  into  the 
court.  The  name  of  the  architect  of  this  staircase,  justly  ac¬ 
counted  one  of  the  most  exquisite  productions  of  the  Renais¬ 
sance,  has  not  been  preserved,  though  it  is  known  that  from 
the  year  1519  the  buildings  were  directed  by  one  Jacques  Sour- 
deau,  master  of  works  in  the  county  of  Blois.  Mr.  T.  A.  Cook 
has,  however,  in  his  fascinating  book,  “Spirals  in  Nature  and 
Art,”  elaborated  a  theory  that  this  staircase  was  designed  by 
Leonardo  da  Vinci  during  his  sojourn  in  the  neighboring  town 
of  Amboise,1  and  that  he  took  for  his  model  the  shell  Voluta 
Vcspcrtilio : 

“At  Blois  there  is  a  staircase  built  ....  just  at  a  time 

1  See  p.  176. 

212 


BLOIS 


when  Leonardo’s  presence  in  Touraine  might  have  enabled 
him  to  suggest  its  plan,  built  with  its  external  lines  corre¬ 
sponding  to  the  outside  of  a  shell,  while  its  internal  spiral  re¬ 
produces  the  helix  on  the  columella  of  that  shell.  .  .  If,  as  I 
believe,  this  staircase  was  copied  from  a  shell,  the  man  who 
owned  the  shell  and  used  it  so  must  have  been  not  merely  an 
architect,  but  a  master  of  construction,  for  the  groin-work  and 
vaulting  of  the  stairs  are  not  the  least  astounding  part  of  the 
whole  building;  and  he  must  have  been  a  decorative  artist,  too, 
of  the  very  highest  order.  Confining  your  attention  for  a 
moment  to  the  inside  of  the  staircase  only,  you  will  see  ample 
evidence  of  this  in  several  directions.  The  stairs  wind  up¬ 
wards,  folding  round  that  exquisite  central  shaft  as  the  petals 
of  a  flower  fold  one  within  the  other;  and  in  the  very  lines  of 
each  step  itself  a  strange  and  beautiful  look  of  life  and  growth 
is  produced  by  the  double  curve  on  which  it  is  so  subtly  planned ; 
for  these  steps  are  not  straight,  as  in  the  older  staircase  of  the 
chateau,  and  most  ordinary  instances,  but  are  carved  into  a 
sudden  little  wave  of  outline  just  where  each  one  springs  out 
from  the  supporting  pillar — from  the  supporting  stalk,  as  it 
were,  of  these  delicately  encircling  leaves. 

“It  is  the  irresistible,  spontaneous,  uplifting  movement  of 
the  whole  that  remains,  after  all,  the  main  impression  of  this 
marvellous  piece  of  work  at  Blois.  To  walk  up  those  steps  is 
to  be  borne  along  upon  a  breath  of  beauty,  and  not  to  feel  the 
clogging  feet  of  human  clay  at  all.  Those  waving  lines  rush 
upwards  like  a  flame  blown  strongly  from  beneath;  for  there 
is  in  them  a  touch  of  that  spell  which  is  elemental ;  of  that  same 
Nature’s  mystery  which  curves  the  tall  shaft  of  the  iris  upwards 
from  the  pool  in  which  it  grows,  or  flings  the  wave  in  curving 
lines  of  foam  upon  the  rocks  the  rising  tide  will  cover.”1 

1  See  “  Spirals  in  Nature  and  Art.”  Theodore  Andrea  Cook.  John  Murray,  1903. 

213 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINF, 

The  Court  life  of  Blois  began  with  the  accession  in  1498 
of  Louis  XII.  Whatever  irregularities  he  may  have  committed 
in  his  youth,  the  life  he  led  with  his  wife,  Anne  of  Brittany, 
was  sober  and  dignified  and  his  relations  with  her  were  friendly 
and  affectionate.  He  treated  her  little  foibles  with  good- 
humored  tolerance  and  allowed  her  to  have  far  more  voice 
in  public  affairs  than  she  had  enjoyed  with  her  first  husband, 
Charles  VIII,  gentle  and  easy-going  as  he  was  supposed  to  be. 

The  Queen  early  set  her  heart  upon  a  marriage  between  the 
little  Princess  Claude  of  France  and  the  Infant  of  Spain,  son 
of  the  Archduke  of  Austria  and  afterwards  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.  Perhaps  she  had  some  idea  in  her  mind  of  poetic 
justice,  a  healing  of  the  double  injury  to  Austria  caused  by 
her  own  marriage  with  Charles  VIII.1  Neither  Louis  nor  his 
Ministers  were  much  in  favor  of  the  marriage,  but  the  Queen 
was  allowed  to  have  her  way,  and  in  1502  the  Archduke,  Philip 
the  Llandsome,  and  his  wife,  the  Infanta,  came  to  Blois  to 
complete  the  negotiations.  Louis’s  additions  to  the  chateau 
were  but  just  finished  and  everything  was  arranged  with  great 
magnificence.  In  order  further  to  dazzle  her  guests  Anne 
had  her  own  ancestral  plate  brought  from  Nantes  and  all  refur¬ 
bished  and  newly  engraved  with  her  arms.2  She  received  the 
Archduchess  seated  upon  a  throne  and  advanced  only  two  steps 
to  meet  her.  The  impression  was  somewhat  marred,  however, 
by  the  little  Princess,  who  set  up  such  piercing  shrieks  at  the 
sight  of  her  mother-in-law  to  be,  that  she  had  to  be  hurriedly 
taken  away.  As  years  went  on  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  pros¬ 
pect  of  an  heir,  King  Louis,  yielding  to  the  wishes  of  his  coun- 

1  See  p.  160. 

2 The  arms  of  the  ducal  house  of  Brittany;  if  the  marriage  took  place,  Brittany 
would  pass  to  Austria  as  the  portion  of  the  bride. 

214 


BLOIS 


sellors,  and  in  spite  of  the  angry  remonstrances  of  his  wife, 
broke  off  the  match  with  Austria,  and,  in  1506,  betrothed  the 
Princess  Claude  to  the  young  Prince  of  Angouleme,  then  heir 
presumptive  to  the  throne. 

“Too  much  credit  cannot  be  given  to  Louis  XII,”  says  M.  Le 
Roux  de  Lincy  in  his  “Life  of  Anne  of  Brittany,”  “for  his  firm¬ 
ness  in  resisting  the  Queen’s  obstinate  determination  to  carry 
the  Austrian  marriage  through.  What  would  have  become  of 
France  had  Charles  of  Luxembourg  joined  Brittany  to  the 
enormous  dominions  which,  as  the  Emperor  Charles  V,  he  later 
united  under  his  sway?” 

In  the  beginning  of  January,  1514,  Anne  of  Brittany  became 
violently  ill  at  Blois,  and,  after  a  week  of  intense  suffering  she 
died.  “This  Queen,”  says  Brantome,  “was  an  honorable  and 
virtuous  Queen,  and  very  good,  a  real  mother  to  the  poor,  also 
all  the  French  people  cannot  leave  off  from  weeping  and  mourn¬ 
ing  for  her.” 

The  King  shut  himself  up  and  would  see  no  one ;  he  directed 
that  extraordinary  honors  should  be  paid  to  the  dead  Queen. 
For  a  week  the  body,  crowned  and  clad  in  purple  velvet  edged 
with  ermine,  was  exposed  upon  a  bed  of  state  in  the  Salle 
d’Honneur  in  the  new  part  of  the  chateau.  The  officers  of  the 
Court  came  each  in  turn  accompanied  by  his  entire  house¬ 
hold  to  view  the  remains,  and  sobs  and  lamentations  mingled 
with  the  sound  of  the  Masses  chanted  continually  night  and 
day  for  the  repose  of  the  departed  soul. 

The  ceremonies  were  protracted  for  three  weeks  at  Blois; 
then  the  long  funeral  train  set  out  for  St.  Denis.  In  front  rode 
the  Princes  and  Princesses  of  the  Blood,  dressed  in  black  and 
mounted  on  small  mules,  and  behind  them  the  entire  Court 
riding  two  by  two  on  hackneys  caparisoned  in  black.  The  heir- 

215 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


presumptive,  the  Prince  of  Angouleme,  wore  a  mourning  cloak 
three  ells  long  that  trailed  behind  him  on  the  ground.  So  fre¬ 
quent  were  the  stops,  however,  that  it  was  ten  days  more  before 
the  Queen  was  laid  to  rest  in  St.  Denis. 

King  Louis  not  only  wore  black  himself  in  sign  of  mourning, 
but  he  required  everyone  who  approached  him,  including  the 
foreign  ambassadors,  to  do  the  same;  and  for  many  weeks 
games,  dancing  and  every  public  form  of  amusement  were  for¬ 
bidden  throughout  the  kingdom.  Even  on  the  occasion  of  the 
marriage  between  the  Prince  of  Angouleme  and  the  Princess 
Claude,  which  was  celebrated  four  months  after  the  Queen’s 
death,  the  mourning  was  not  lightened.  The  bride  and  bride¬ 
groom  both  appeared  at  the  ceremony  habited  in  black  cloth. 
“Une  austerite  estrange  de  denil  quit  faut  noter”  comments 
Brantome. 

In  spite  of  all  this  ceremonial  observance  and  the  very  real 
sorrow  it  represented,  a  sudden  term  was  put  to  the  period  of 
mourning  by  the  announcement  that  the  King  was  about  to 
take  a  third  wife,  the  Princess  Mary,  sister  of  Henry  VIII  of 
England.  The  marriage  took  place  nine  months  to  the  very 
day  after  the  death  of  Anne  of  Brittany.  The  new  Queen,  who 
was  young  and  full  of  life  and  gaiety,  turned  the  sober  Court 
upside  down;  she  altered  her  husband’s  sedate  habits  and 
dragged  him  through  such  a  succession  of  junketings  that  he 
shortly  collapsed.  On  the  last  night  of  the  year  1514  the  criers 
were  running  through  the  streets  of  Paris  calling  out:  “Good 
King  Louis,  Father  of  his  people,  is  dead!” 

There  was  no  issue  by  the  marriage  with  Mary  Tudor,  and 
Francis  of  Angouleme,  great-great-grandson  of  Charles  V,  and 
son-in-law  of  the  late  King,  succeeded  without  question. 

216 


WING  OF  FRANCIS  I,  BLOIS 


BLOIS 


Before  long  the  Court  removed  to  Blois  and  the  rebuilding 
of  the  old  feudal  fortress  on  the  right  of  the  courtyard  between 
the  wing  of  Charles  of  Orleans  on  the  west  and  the  Grand’ 
Salle  on  the  east,  was  begun.  It  was  in  this  wing,  completed 
about  fifty  years  later,  that  the  two  most  dramatic  episodes  in 
the  history  of  the  chateau  were  to  have  their  scene. 

The  powerful  House  of  Guise,  closely  connected  with  the 
first  of  these  events,  rose  to  prominence  in  the  beginning  of 
the  XVIth  century,  when  Claude,  fifth  son  of  Rene  II,  Duke 
of  Lorraine,  inherited  from  his  father  the  counties  of  Guise 
and  of  Aumale,  with  the  baronies  of  Joinville,  Sable  and  May- 
enne  in  France,  besides  other  lands  in  Normandy,  Picardy, 
Flanders  and  Haynault. 

Claude  of  Lorraine  was  the  ablest  captain  of  his  time,  and, 
in  reward  for  his  military  services,  Francis  I  created  him  Duke 
of  Guise,  and  he  further  advanced  himself  by  marrying  An¬ 
toinette  de  Bourbon,  a  member  of  the  royal  family.  Of  his 
ten  children  the  eldest,  Mary,  became  the  Queen  of  James  V 
of  Scotland;  Francis,  the  eldest  son,  succeeded  as  second  Duke 
and  married  a  granddaughter  of  Louis  XII  and  Anne  of 
Brittany.  Charles,  the  second  son,  was  the  powerful  Cardinal 
Lorraine,  while  the  third  son,  Claude,  who  married  a  daughter 
of  Diane  of  Poitiers,  became  Duke  of  Aumale. 

Claude  of  Lorraine  died  in  1550  and,  on  the  death  eight 
years  later  of  King  Henry  II,  his  two  eldest  sons,  Duke  Francis 
and  Cardinal  Lorraine,  became,  through  the  influence  of  their 
niece,  Mary  Stuart,  all  powerful  in  the  councils  of  the  young 
King,  Francis  II.  We  have  seen  them  shutting  the  Court  up 
in  the  fortress  of  Amboise  in  the  spring  of  1560  in  order  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  Renaudie  conspirators,  and  sig- 
20  219 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

nalizing  their  triumph  on  that  occasion  by  wholesale  execu¬ 
tions.1  One  result  of  these  executions  was  the  murder  of  the 
Duke  of  Guise  at  Orleans  three  years  later  by  a  Huguenot 
gentleman.  The  murdered  Duke  was  succeeded  by  his  son 
Henry  as  third  Duke  of  Guise.  He  detested  the  Huguenots 
as  murderers  of  his  father,  and  along  with  his  brothers,  Charles, 
Duke  of  Mayenne,  and  Louis,  known  as  Cardinal  Guise,  became 
chief  of  the  League,2  and  in  time  the  scourge  of  King  Henry  III. 

This  third  son  of  Catherine  de  Medicis,  who  succeeded  his 
brother,  Charles  IX,  in  1574,  brought  to  the  throne  an  exalted 
idea  of  the  dignity  of  the  crown.  His  policy  was  to  remove 
all  intermediaries  between  the  sovereign,  dispenser  of  favors 
and  offices,  and  his  people.  Everyone  who  had  a  favor  to  ask, 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  must  do  so  in  person.  At  the 
same  time  the  King  affected  an  isolation  hitherto  unknown. 
Familiarities  permitted  by  his  predecessors  were  no  longer 
allowed. 

The  Court  during  this  reign  became  more  than  ever  the 
centre  of  a  tangled  mesh  of  intrigues,  plots  and  counter-plots, 
all  interwoven  with  the  maddest  revelry,  the  most  absolute 
license. 

One  can  picture  the  scene  at  Blois  on  any  morning  in  the 
early  years  of  the  reign  at  the  hour  when  the  King  was  expected 
to  appear.  Suitors  with  petitions  which,  by  the  King’s  order, 
must  be  placed  in  his  own  hand,  crowd  about  the  entrance. 
In  the  quadrangle  the  armed  adherents  of  the  Duke  of  Alengon, 
Henry’s  brother,  jostle  those  of  Henry  himself,  for  he  never, 
despite  all  his  bids  for  popularity,  succeeded  in  becoming  more 
than  the  chief  of  a  party.  The  Archers  of  the  Guard  are 
bantering  the  followers  of  the  King  of  Navarre  on  their  mas- 

1  See  p.  188.  2  See  p.  48. 

220 


t 

'  I  i1  !  .  O  I  ' 

.  ■ 

' 

' 

be;i  :  Medicis’  “ 

Isans'of  tfc  Duke  an  1  the  favorites  K 

and 

of  farti"  i 

Al**  r  \w 

. : :  -o  It  •  i  i  H;;  <  »>n  /  ;.r; 

sweeps  up  iikt  •  * 

. 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 


ENTRANCE  THROUGH  WING  OF  LOUIS  XII,  BLOIS 


BLOIS 


ter’s  easy-going  indifference  to  the  flirtations  of  his  Queen, 
Margaret  of  Valois;  while  in  and  out  among  the  crowd  glide 
the  emissaries  of  the  Guises,  silent,  watchful  and  alert,  noting 
every  word  of  discontent,  every  indication  of  a  fresh  convert 
to  the  principles  of  the  League. 

Above,  the  windows  and  balconies  and  openings  of  the  won¬ 
drous  escalier  a  jour  are  filled  with  laughing  groups  of  Court 
beauties— Catherine  de  Medicis’  “flying  squadron,”  the  parti¬ 
sans  of  the  Duke  and  the  favorites  of  the  King,  all  up  to  their 
pretty  ears  in  intrigues  and  party  politics. 

Suddenly  there  is  an  added  stir  and  movement,  an  adjustment 
of  farthingales,  a  flutter  of  scarfs;  the  Archers  of  the  Guard 
fall  into  place,  the  courtiers  draw  aside  in  little  whispering 
groups,  and  the  curled  and  perfumed  King  appears,  surrounded 
by  his  mignons,  his  handsome  face  not  yet  wearing  that  look 
almost  of  madness  that  his  excesses  were  later  to  stamp  upon 
it.  The  King  passes  stately  up  the  winding  stair  between  the 
curtseying  bands  of  beauties ;  the  cavaliers  close  in  from  below, 
and  the  whole  brilliant  flood  of  life  and  color  and  movement 
sweeps  up  like  a  winding  thread  of  gold-be jeweled  ribbons  and 
disappears  from  view. 

It  is,  however,  a  very  different  scene  that  has  connected  the 
name  of  Henry  III  indissolubly  with  the  chateau  of  Blois. 
There  on  the  226.  December,  1588,  the  Court  was  assembled. 
The  weather  was  cold  and  penetrating,  a  sleety  rain  fell  and 
the  lofty  rooms  and  stone  corridors  of  the  chateau  were  gray 
with  damp  and  fog.  The  King,  always  sensitive  to  outward 
conditions,  and  a  prey  to  imaginary  terrors,  was  harassed  and 
unstrung.  His  reign  had  been  a  continuous  succession  of  dis¬ 
turbances  ;  troubles  with  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Alengon,  trou¬ 
bles  with  the  League,  added  to  the  disastrous  Wars  of  Religion 

223 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


bequeathed  to  him  by  his  brothers,  Francis  II  and  Charles  IX. 
Now,  after  reigning  fourteen  years,  he  found  himself  deserted 
on  all  sides,  a  mere  figure  of  a  King,  while  the  Duke  of  Guise 
usurped  the  real  authority,  and,  as  Henry  firmly  believed,  only 
waited  his  chance  to  depose  him.  On  this  day  there  had  been  an 
interview  which  put  the  final  touch  to  the  King’s  alarm.  The 
Duke  had  arrogantly  complained  of  the  lack  of  confidence  re¬ 
posed  in  him.  He  said  his  purest  motives  were  ever  miscon¬ 
strued,  and,  therefore,  he  had  no  choice  but  to  resign  his  office 
of  Lieutenant-general. 

Henry  was  thoroughly  alarmed;  he  was  convinced  that  this 
meant  that  the  Duke  was  about  to  get  himself  appointed  Con¬ 
stable,  and  then  and  there  he  determined  to  try  to  rid  himself 
of  the  man  who  had  been  the  pest  of  his  life.  The  Guises  had 
plenty  of  enemies,  and  among  them  the  King  selected  as  his 
accomplices  a  band  known  as  the  “Forty-five,”  all  bitterly  hos¬ 
tile  to  the  League. 

The  royal  apartments  at  Blois  consist  of  two  suites,  those 
of  the  King,  extending  along  the  north  side  of  the  second  floor 
of  Francis  I’s  wing,  and  the  Queen’s,  situated  directly  beneath 
them.  In  the  bedroom  of  the  lower  suite  lay  Catherine  de 
Medicis  ill,  weak  and  nervous,  a  mere  shadow  of  her  former 
indomitable  self.  Ller  son  did  not  take  her  into  his  confidence. 

It  was  given  out  that  on  the  following  day,  Friday,  the  23d, 
the  King  would  go  to  the  neighboring  estate  of  La  Noue  and 
that  the  Council  would,  therefore,  be  held  early  in  the  morning. 
Before  seven  o’clock,  the  hour  appointed,  the  Forty-five  had 
been  stationed,  some  in  the  King’s  bed-chamber  under  one 
of  their  number  named  Lorgnac,  and  others  in  a  small  passage 
leading  from  it  to  what  was  known  as  the  “old  cabinet.”  The 
King,  with  three  of  his  immediate  followers,  d’Ornano  and 

224 


BLOIS 

the  two  d’Entr  agues,  placed  himself  in  the  “new  cabinet”  com¬ 
municating  with  the  bedroom  by  a  door  at  the  farther  end. 
He  was  so  nervous  that  he  could  not  keep  still  and  kept  send¬ 
ing  message  after  message  to  his  chaplain  and  his  almoner 
in  the  adjacent  oratory,  to  pray  for  the  success  of  “a  measure 
by  which  peace  was  to  be  restored  to  France.” 

At  seven  o’clock  the  Council  opened.  Shortly  afterwards 
the  Duke  of  Guise  was  seen  to  issue  from  his  apartments  in 
the  wing  of  Louis  XII  and  cross  the  court-yard.  Throughout 
the  palace  there  had  been  a  vague  feeling  of  uneasiness.  It 
was  suspected  that  something  against  the  Guises  was  about 
to  be  attempted  and  messages  had  reached  the  Duke  both  from 
the  Papal  Nuncio  and  from  his  mother,  the  Duchess  of 
Nemours,  the  one  advising,  the  other  entreating  him  to  quit 
the  Court.  Even  the  Queen-mother  would  have  tried  to  save 
him  had  she  dared. 

Guise,  however,  was  a  man  of  indomitable  courage,  and  he 
had  an  inextinguishable  faith  in  his  lucky  star.  To  a  gentle¬ 
man  named  La  Sale,  who  attempted  to  warn  him,  he  replied 
that  for  years  such  dangers  as  those  suggested  had  had  no 
terrors  for  him,  while  another  friendly  counsellor  was  merely 
told  that  he  was  a  fool  for  his  pains. 

On  reaching  the  foot  of  the  e scalier  a  jour  the  Duke  was 
surprised  to  find  a  number  of  the  Scottish  archers  assembled. 
Their  captain  explained  that  the  poor  fellows  had  come  to  peti¬ 
tion  for  arrears  of  pay  due  them  and  begged  for  the  Duke’s 
good  offices  with  the  Council.  He  promised  and  passed  on, 
when  the  Archers,  swarming  up  behind  him,  completely  blocked 
the  way. 

At  the  top,  the  stair  opens  on  the  great  Salle  des  Gardes, 
the  upper  end  of  which  was  used  for  the  meetings  of  the  Coun- 

225 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

cil.  From  thence  a  door  leads  directly  into  the  King’s  bed¬ 
chamber,  while  another  door  close  to  the  fireplace  communicates 
with  the  “old  cabinet.” 

The  other  members  of  the  Council,  many  of  whom  were  in 
the  secret,  were  already  assembled  when  the  Duke  of  Guise 
entered,  followed  shortly  by  his  brother,  the  Cardinal.  The 
Duke  crossed  the  room,  and,  without  removing  his  cloak,  stood 
with  his  back  to  the  fire,  warming  himself  and  eating  Bagna- 
rolle  plums  out  of  a  comfit-box.  Presently  word  was  brought 
that  the  King  wished  to  speak  to  him  in  the  old  cabinet.  Find¬ 
ing  the  door  of  communication  fastened,  Guise  passed  into  the 
King’s  bed-chamber,  saluted  the  members  of  the  Forty-five 
whom  he  found  there,  and  turned  into  a  narrow  passage  on 
the  left  that  leads  to  the  old  cabinet.  After  proceeding  a  few 
steps  he  noticed  that  he  was  followed;  he  paused,  hesitated, 
and  then  turned.  Instantly  the  assassins  were  upon  him,  and 
in  a  moment  he  had  been  stabbed  in  a  dozen  places.  Embar¬ 
rassed  by  the  folds  of  his  long  cloak  and  unable  to  draw  his 
sword,  he  nevertheless  fought  furiously  and  even  succeeded 
in  dragging  his  assailants  back  into  the  bed-chamber,  where 
he  flung  them  ofif.  Turning  with  clenched  fists  and  arms  ex¬ 
tended,  wide-open  mouth  and  staring  eyes,  he  staggered  across 
the  room  only  to  receive  the  final  thrust  from  Lorgnac,  who, 
with  drawn  sword,  stood  awaiting  him.  The  Duke  beat  the 
air  twice  with  his  outstretched  arms,  then  fell  heavily  to  the 
floor  at  the  very  foot  of  the  King’s  bedstead. 

There  was  a  moment  of  absolute  silence;  then  the  door  at 
the  farther  end  of  the  room  was  softly  pushed  open,  the  hang¬ 
ings  were  drawn  aside  and  the  crazy  face  of  the  King,  well- 
nigh  as  pallid  as  that  of  the  murdered  man  himself,  was  thrust 
in.  For  an  instant  he  only  stared  about  him.  “Are  you  sure 
he  is  dead?”  he  whispered.  “Sure,  Sire,”  was  the  reply.  Then 

226 


COURT  OF  THE  CHATEAU  OF  BLOIS 


. 


BLOIS 


only  Henry  dared  to  glide  in  and  to  stand  gazing  down  at  his 
enemy. 

“Mon  Dieu!”  he  exclaimed,  ‘‘How  big  he  is!”  and  he  stirred 
the  body  with  his  foot. 

Meantime  a  tumult  had  broken  out  in  the  Council  chamber. 
At  the  first  sound  of  the  scuffle,  Cardinal  Guise  and  the  Arch¬ 
bishop  of  Lyons  had  been  seized  and  hurried  off  to  the  strong 
room  at  the  top  of  the  Tour  du  Moulin.  The  Duchess  of 
Nemours,  the  Prince  of  JoinviJle,  eldest  son  of  the  Duke,1  the 
old  Cardinal  Bourbon  and  a  number  of  others  were  likewise 
placed  under  arrest.  A  band  of  soldiers  appeared  suddenly 
in  the  midst  of  the  Tiers  Etat,  then  in  session  in  the  Hotel 
de  Ville  in  the  town,  and  arrested  some  half-dozen  of  the  mem¬ 
bers.  Without  being  given  time  so  much  as  to  don  their  hats 
and  cloaks  they  were  marched  off  through  the  pelting  rain  to 
the  chateau,  where,  as  they  filed  past  the  open  door  of  the 
King’s  chamber,  they  could  see  the  two  long  tracks  of  blood 
stretching  from  the  bed  to  the  passageway. 

After  the  murder  Henry  went  straight  to  his  mother. 

“Good  morning,  Madame,”  said  he  jauntily.  “I  hope  you 
will  forgive  me,  but  Monsieur  de  Guise  is  dead.  There  will 
not  be  any  more  question  of  him.  I  am  master  at  last !” 

Catherine  gazed  at  him  in  terror,  then  cowered  down  in  her 
bed,  weeping  and  shaking  from  sheer  fright.  Later  in  the 
day  she  dragged  herself  up  and  went  to  visit  Cardinal  Bourbon 
in  the  prison  where  he  was  confined.  He  received  her  with 
bitter  reproaches  and  declared  that  these  misfortunes  were  all 
the  result  of  her  policy.  After  returning  from  this  interview 
Catherine  fell  into  a  high  fever;  she  never  left  her  bed  again 
and  in  less  than  a  fortnight  she  was  dead. 

On  the  morning  after  the  murder  a  Captain  of  the  Guard 

1  See  p.  35. 

229 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

came  to  Cardinal  Guise  and  informed  him  that  he  had  been 
sent  to  conduct  him  to  the  King.  The  Cardinal  followed  him, 
but  had  advanced  only  a  few  steps  when  several  soldiers  set 
upon  him  in  the  narrow  passage  leading  around  the  Tour  du 
Moulin,  and  stabbed  him  to  death.  The  bodies  of  the  two 
brothers  were  burned  the  same  night  and  the  ashes  thrown 
into  the  Loire  for  fear  their  followers  might  convert  them 
into  relics. 

The  crime  was  wholly  without  the  results  so  confidently 
expected  by  the  King,  and,  as  far  as  he  was  concerned,  it  had 
far  better  never  have  been  committed.  The  mantle  of  the 
murdered  Duke  fell  upon  his  brother,  the  Duke  of  Mayenne, 
and  the  Leaguers,  now  frankly  revolutionary,  rallied  to  his 
standard.  Henry,  deserted  by  the  entire  Catholic  party,  entered 
into  an  alliance  with  his  brother-in-law,  the  King  of  Navarre, 
and  six  months  after  the  murders  at  Blois  he  was  himself 
struck  down  by  a  young  monk,  who,  after  consultation  with 
“a  good  doctor  of  the  Church,”  was  persuaded  that  to  kill  a 
tyrant  was  not  a  crime. 

Blois,  like  Amboise,  had  now  the  stain  of  blood  upon  its 
walls.  Thenceforth  the  Court  only  visited  the  chateau  rarely 
and  for  brief  periods,  and  though  another  Medician  Queen 
did  occupy  the  rooms  in  which  Catherine  de  Medicis  had  passed 
the  last  weeks  of  her  life,  it  was  under  circumstances  that  were 
hardly  more  cheerful. 

Henry  of  Navarre,  though  a  very  distant  relation,  was  the 
next  heir  to  the  throne  and  had  been  acknowledged  by  Henry  III 
on  his  death-bed  as  his  successor.  He  had  managed  in  spite 
of  the  Leaguers  to  secure  the  crown.  He  had  divorced  his 
wife,  Margaret  of  Valois,  and  had  married  Marie  de  Medicis, 
and  then  in  May,  1610,  just  when  France  was  beginning  to 
recover  from  the  misrule  of  the  last  Valois  Kings  and  the 

230 


BLOIS 


drawn-out  disasters  of  the  Religious  Wars,  he  had  been  assas¬ 
sinated  in  the  streets  of  Paris. 

The  widowed  Queen  became  Regent,  and  guardian  of  her 
son,  Louis  XIII,  then  nine  years  old,  but  she  made  herself 
utterly  detested,  ruling  France  for  seven  years  through 
a  worthless  Florentine  favorite,  Concino  Concini,  whom  she 
created  Marquis  d’Ancre.  Meanwhile  the  little  King  went 
bird-shooting  with  his  friend  Charles  d’Albert  of  Luynes,1  and 
the  two  talked  and  dreamed  of  the  great  projects  they  would 
undertake  together  when  Louis  was  really  King.  Seven  years 
after  the  death  of  Henry  IV  Luynes  thought  the  time  had 
come  to  realize  these  dreams.  He  determined  to  get  rid  of 
the  hated  favorite  and  he  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  confed¬ 
erates.  On  the  morning  of  14th  April,  1617,  Concini  was  shot 
dead  as  he  entered  the  court  of  the  Louvre.  The  King  with 
Luynes  watched  from  an  upper  window,  ready  to  fly  should 
the  attempt  miscarry,  but  of  the  fifty  gentlemen  who  composed 
the  Marshal’s  suite  only  one  raised  a  hand  in  his  defence.  The 
King  appeared  at  the  window  and  was  received  with  cries  of 
“Vive  le  roi”  from  the  crowd.  The  Queen  Regent  heard  tFe 
shouts  from  her  own  apartment  and  understood  that  her  day  was 
over.  A  fortnight  later  she  was  removed  from  Paris  to  Blois, 
followed  by  the  execrations  of  the  populace. 

“I  have  reigned  for  seven  years,”  she  sighed  resignedly, 
“now  I  have  nothing  to  hope  for  but  a  heavenly  crown.” 

Nevertheless,  she  did  hope  for  much  else;  and,  finding  her 
situation  at  Blois  nothing  short  of  imprisonment,  she  was  soon 
plotting  with  the  Duke  of  Lpernon2  to  efifect  her  escape  and 
to  set  up  a  rival  party  to  that  of  Luynes. 

Owing  to  the  situation  of  the  chateau  and  the  careful  meas- 

1  See  p.  247. 

2  In  his  youth  Epernon  had  been  one  of  Henry  Ill’s  mignons.  He  was  the 
most  powerful  lord  to  hold  out  against  Luynes’s  government. 

21  231 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

ures  taken  by  Luynes,  escape  promised  to  be  extremely 
difficult.  Nevertheless,  Rucellai,  Abbe  of  Ligny,  an  adherent 
of  the  Queen-mother,  and,  like  herself,  a  Florentine,  undertook 
the  task  of  organizing  a  rescue. 

The  plans  took  months  to  mature  and  nearly  miscarried, 
but  at  last  the  scheme  was  arranged.  The  night  of  21st  Febru¬ 
ary  was  fixed  on  for  the  attempt,  and  the  details  were  arranged 
by  a  clever  Gascon  named  Cardillac.  The  Queen  occupied 
the  royal  suite  of  apartments  on  the  first  floor  of  the  wing  of 
Francis  I — the  bedroom  in  which  Catherine  de  Medicis  had 
died,  the  oratory,  and  beyond  that  the  wainscotted  cabinet  de 
travail,  with  the  interlaced  C.  and  H.  for  Catherine  and  Henry, 
and  its  secret  cupboards  in  the  panelling.  As  guards  were 
stationed  by  Luynes’  orders  in  all  the  corridors  and  stairways 
of  the  building  as  well  as  at  every  door  of  egress,  Cardillac 
decided  that  the  only  way  for  the  Queen  to  get  away  unseen 
was  by  one  of  the  windows  on  the  north  of  the  chateau  over¬ 
looking  the  town.  At  that  time  a  terrace  extended  on  this 
side  nearly  half-way  up  to  the  first  floor,  so  that  the  drop  was 
not  so  great  as  it  is  to-day;  nevertheless,  for  a  stout,  middle- 
aged  lady  of  sedentary  habits,  the  undertaking  was  no  trifling 
one.  The  Queen  looked  at  the  airy  ladders  of  rope  provided 
by  her  equerry,  the  Count  de  Brenne,  and  then  at  the  sheer 
wall  of  the  chateau  stretching  below  her,  and  shook  her  head. 
She  said  she  was  a  woman  and  a  Queen,  and  such  a  method 
of  escape  would  not  be  dignified ;  but  since  there  was  mani¬ 
festly  no  other  way  she  had  finally  to  yield.  On  the  evening 
of  the  2 1  st  all  was  in  readiness.  The  Archbishop  of  Toulouse, 
a  son  of  Lpernon,  with  a  troop  of  horsemen  was  to  meet  the 
Queen  at  Montrichard,  a  castle  half-way  on  the  road  to  Loches, 
where  she  would  spend  the  rest  of  the  night  and  in  the  morn- 

232 


ing  continue  her  join  ney  ^  •  )uk 

Lpernon,  who  was  Governor  r*  dr  and 

some  saddle  horses  were  sta  of  the 

bridge  over  the  Loire,  and  d  ..  y  every 

‘Car dill 

with  the  linal. instructions,  i  He 

found  Brenne’s  ladders  alre .  .1 

the  ground  to  the  terrace,  :  W 

window  of  the  cabinet  dc  tra: 


<r/!A 


■  niewbi 


Running  lightly  up  he  looked 
the  picture  of  irresolution,  v  i 
whom  they  had  been  obliged  («  rle  in,  \  ; 

. 

A  maid,  with  tears  pourin  >  her  cheel 

pwe  r  mistress’s  jewe  dillac  tappr  ■. 

m,  and  ^  , 

who  were  readfWfcPh ^ 


-  Without  a  word,  .Mar k 

skirts  about  her,  bade  ■  -  id  the  w a y  v..-nd ant 

aided  her  as  wed  1  abov  t<i  the 

got  her  to  the  ' 

arose,  for  notwi  !  their  care 

■ 

' 

1'  eep  embankment  at  2  a.  j  -  zing  Feb- 

.  i  '  vr  .ng  with  a  stout  lady  who  deed  ad  -an<  e 

Mrjjrti,r<-at  and  whose  royalty  forbade  c  !  While  the 

about  bn, i  i  /  u  \  ■ :  ,:.y  lu  ■  !■■■■■  1 

the  side  of  the  tv  trace  wh  tolled  to  root  below.  A 


235 


CHATEAU  OF  BLOIS,  WING  OF  FRANCIS  I, 

SHOWING  WINDOW  FROM  WHICH  MARIE  DE  MEDICS  ESCAPED,  THE  TOUR  DU  MOULIN  AND 
END  OF  WING  OF  GASTON  OF  ORLEANS 


BLOIS 

ing  continue  her  journey  under  the  escort  of  the  Duke  of 
Lpernon,  who  was  Governor  there.  A  carriage  and  pair  and 
some  saddle  horses  were  stationed  at  the  further  side  of  the 
bridge  over  the  Loire,  and  fresh  horses  were  waiting  at  every 
post.  Cardillac,  who  had  left  Loches  at  eight  in  the  evening 
with  the  final  instructions,  reached  Blois  at  about  i  a.  m.  He 
found  Brenne’s  ladders  already  in  place,  one  reaching  from 
the  ground  to  the  terrace,  the  other  from  the  terrace  to  the 
window  of  the  cabinet  de  travail,  where  a  light  was  burning. 
Running  lightly  up  he  looked  in.  The  Queen  was  standing, 
the  picture  of  irresolution,  while  two  members  of  her  guard 
whom  they  had  been  obliged  to  confide  in,  were  imploring  her 
to  think  again  before  taking  so  dangerous  and  decisive  a  step. 
A  maid,  with  tears  pouring  down  her  cheeks,  was  hurriedly 
packing  her  mistress’s  jewels.  Cardillac  tapped  lightly,  sprang 
in,  and  announced  cheerfully  that  all  was  as  well  as  well  could 
be;  he  had  just  left  three  hundred  armed  cavaliers  at  Loches, 
who  were  ready  to  follow  the  Queen  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
Without  a  word,  Marie  walked  to  the  window,  and,  folding  her 
skirts  about  her,  bade  Brenne  lead  the  way,  while  an  attendant 
aided  her  as  well  as  he  could  from  above.  Between  them  they 
got  her  to  the  first  stage  in  safety,  but  here  fresh  difficulties 
arose,  for  notwithstanding  all  their  care  the  Queen  found  the 
descent  so  terrifying  that  she  utterly  refused  to  set  foot  on 
the  second  ladder.  Here  was  a  situation!  To  be  landed  on 
the  top  of  a  steep  embankment  at  2  a.  m.  on  a  freezing  Feb¬ 
ruary  morning  with  a  stout  lady  who  declined  either  to  advance 
or  retreat  and  whose  royalty  forbade  coercion!  While  the 
others  held  a  hurried  council  of  war  the  clever  Gascon  looked 
about  him.  He  observed  a  gully  hollowed  out  by  the  rain  in 
the  side  of  the  terrace  which  reached  to  the  street  below.  A 


235 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

heavy  cloak  was  spread  on  the  ground,  the  Queen  was  per¬ 
suaded  to  seat  herself  upon  it,  and  while  one  grasped  it  firmly 
from  above  another  dragged  it  from  below  and  the  Queen  was 
safely  tobogganed  to  the  bottom.  Finding  herself  on  solid 
ground  at  last,  Marie’s  spirits  rose,  and  she  was  much  amused 
when  two  officers  of  the  household  allowed  them  to  pass  without 
scrutiny,  merely  calling  out  some  coarse  pleasantry.  Travers¬ 
ing  the  Faubourg  du  Foix,  the  party  crossed  the  bridge  without 
accident,  but  there  another  crisis  awaited  them.  The  carriage 
and  horses  seen  by  Cardillac  on  the  spot  not  an  hour  before 
had  gone.  Again  were  the  leaders  of  the  adventure  thrown 
into  miseries  of  anxiety.  They  gathered  in  a  troubled  little 
group  and  were  discussing  the  best  means  of  meeting  this  new 
problem  when  a  groom  came  running  up  to  say  that  the  carriage 
was  awaiting  them  in  a  side-street.  With  a  general  exclama¬ 
tion  of  relief,  the  party  hurried  after  him.  The  Queen  got 
inside,  the  various  boxes  and  packages  were  stowed  away, 
the  escort  jumped  on  their  horses,  and  the  party  took  the  road 
for  Montrichard  at  a  gallop.  Suddenly  the  Queen  uttered  an 
exclamation;  “Stop,”  she  cried,  “stop  at  once!” 

The  carriage  halted,  and  the  escort  rode  up  to  learn  what 
had  happened. 

“One  of  my  packages  is  missing.  We  must  turn  back,”  said 
the  Queen.  “I  cannot  go  on  without  it.” 

Everyone  implored  her  not  to  think  of  doing  anything  so  dan¬ 
gerous,  they  pointed  out  how  much  time  had  already  been  lost, 
and  that  a  moment’s  delay  would  now  probably  mean  failure. 
But  the  Queen  was  obdurate — go  on  without  her  package  she 
would  not.  Accordingly,  two  of  the  grooms  were  sent  back 
to  look  while  the  rest  waited  in  the  road.  Sure  enough,  the 
package  was  found  lying  in  the  street  where  the  party  had 

236 


CHATEAU  OF  BLOIS,  VIEWED  FROM  A  STREET  OF  THE 
WING  OF  FRANCIS  I  ON  THE  LEFT 


TOWN. 


' 

I 


♦ 


BLOIS 


mounted,  and  brought  to  the  Queen.  She  was,  as  it  turned  out, 
justified  in  persisting  in  this  case,  for  the  missing  bundle  con¬ 
tained  jewels  to  the  value  of  a  hundred  thousand  crowns,  which 
were,  in  fact,  all  that  the  conspirators  had  to  depend  upon  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  coming  struggle. 

At  daybreak  Rucellai  and  a  party  of  gentlemen  met  them 
on  the  road.  The  Archbishop  of  Toulouse  received  them  at 
Montrichard,  and  before  the  day  was  out  Marie  was  safely 
lodged  in  the  chateau  of  Loches. 

At 'Blois  consternation  and  amazement  reigned.  The  doors 
leading  to  the  royal  suite  had  to  be  broken  in.  No  clue  was  to 
be  found,  for  Cardillac,  the  last  to  descend,  had  dragged  the 
ladders  down  after  him,  and  thrown  them  in  the  Loire.  No 
one  could  imagine  how  the  Queen  and  the  five  persons  known 
to  have  entered  her  apartment  the  evening  before  had  got 
out.  It  was  long  before  the  mystery  was  cleared  up. 

A  civil  war  was  the  result  of  the  flight  from  Blois,  which 
only  ended  when  Richelieu  effected  a  reconciliation  between 
the  King  and  his  mother,  in  August,  1620. 

The  subsequent  career  of  Marie  de  Medicis  was  tragic. 
Some  years  later,  for  attempting  to  undermine  the  influence 
of  Richelieu,  she  was  imprisoned  at  Compiegnes,  whence  she 
escaped  in  1631  and  fled  to  the  Low  Countries.  Her  last  years 
were  spent  as  an  exile  in  utter  destitution,  and  this  grand¬ 
mother  of  Louis  XIV  is  said  to  hawe  died  in  1642  in  a  hayloft 
at  Cologne. 

In  1625  Blois  was  given  in  appanage  to  the  King’s  brother 
Gaston,  Duke  of  Orleans,  an  incorrigible  schemer,  who  was 
constantly  intriguing  against  Richelieu,  and  constantly  in  dis¬ 
grace  with  the  King.  During  one  of  his  long  periods  of  semi¬ 
exile  he  amused  himself  by  pulling  down  the  western  wing 

239 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

of  the  chateau  and  replacing  it  by  a  building  designed  by 
Mansard. 

This  work  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  closes  the  building  period 
at  Blois ;  that  of  neglect  and  destruction  began  in  the  following 
century. 

In  1845  the  Town  Council  determined  to  save  their  beautiful 
chateau  from  total  ruin  and  began  a  thorough  restoration  only 
completed  in  1870.  The  work  has  been  for  the  most  part  very 
happily  carried  out,  especially  in  the  wing  of  Louis  XII,  where 
almost  all  the  carving,  including  the  equestrian  statue  of  the 
King  above  the  entrance,  while  wholly  modern,  is  in  the  spirit 
of  the  XVth  century. 

It  being  impossible  to  recover  the  rich  tapestries  with  which 
in  its  royal  days  the  stone  walls  of  the  chateau  were  hung,  the 
architect  conceived  that  the  original  effect  might  be  obtained 
by  painting  the  walls  in  set  patterns  with  deep  blues,  reds, 
greens,  and  gold.  The  result  is  not  fortunate. 

On  the  south  and  east  the  town  crowds  closely  about  the 
base  of  the  chateau.  It  is  a  busy,  cheerful  place  with  hilly 
streets  leading  down  to  the  river  and  many  soft  old  Renais¬ 
sance  houses  and  hotels  tucked  away  in  shadowy  corners. 
There  are  some  old  churches,  too,  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Louis 
dominating  the  town  from  a  height  above  the  Loire,  and  the 
Xllth  century  abbey-church  of  St.  Nicolas  close  to  the  chateau. 
The  Church  of  St.  Sauveur,  however,  where  the  Maid  went 
to  have  her  banner  blessed  before  riding  off  to  the  relief  of 
Orleans,  has  gone,  and  a  tablet  on  the  Place  du  Chateau  is  all 
there  is  to  indicate  the  site. 

From  the  Place  Victor  LIugo  on  the  north  one  has  a  fine 
view  of  the  outer  side  of  the  wing  of  Francis  I  towering  over¬ 
head  ;  a  splendid  mass  of  lights  and  shadows  with  its  two  lines 

240 


CHATEAU  OF  BLOIS:  WING  QF  LOUIS  XII,  EXTERIOR  FACADE 


. 


- 


. 


BLOJS 


of  deeply  embrasured  windows  and  a  loggia  below  the  over¬ 
hanging  roof.  The  lower  of  the  two  windows  on  the  extreme 
right  is  the  one  from  which  Marie  de  Medicis  made  her  escape, 
while  close  to  it  is  seen  a  part  of  the  round  Tour  du  Moulin, 
where  Cardinal  Guise  was  assassinated  and  the  north  end  of 
Mansard’s  wing. 

Of  the  Duke  of  Luynes,  the  primary  cause  of  that  adventure 
of  the  Queen,  we  shall  learn  more  in  the  next  chapter. 


243 


LUYNES 


CHAPTER  IX 


LUYNES 

THE  disgrace  of  Marie  de  Medicis  and  her  exile  to  Blois 
were  brought  about,  as  has  been  seen,  by  the  machina¬ 
tions  of  Charles  d’ Albert  of  Luynes,  the  favorite  of  her 
son,  Louis  XIII.  This  Charles  d’ Albert  was  the  son  of  a  man 
of  plain  extraction  who  had  taken  the  surname  of  Luynes  from 
a  property  he  acquired  near  Aix  in  Provence.  He  began  life  as 
a  page  in  the  service  of  the  Count  of  Lude,  and  later,  Henry  IV 
placed  him  with  the  Dauphin,  Louis.  This  Prince  was  extrava¬ 
gantly  fond  of  hunting  and  Luynes  excelled  in  all  outdoor 
sports. 

Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  King  James’s  Ambassador  to 
Louis  XIII  in  1619,  writes  that  the  favorite  had  won  his  influ¬ 
ence  over  the  King  in  his  nonage  “by  making  hawks  to  fly  at 
all  little  birds  in  his  gardens,  and  by  making  some  of  those 
little  birds  again  catch  butterflies.” 

The  young  King  became  so  passionately  attached  to  this 
clever  personage  that  he  could  not  bear  to  have  him  out  of 
his  sight,  and  on  one  occasion  fell  into  a  high  fever  because 
for  three  days  he  had  been  deprived  of  his  society.  After  the 
murder  of  Concini1  and  the  disgrace  of  the  party  of  the  Queen- 
mother,  Luynes  occupied  the  chief  place  in  the  government  and 

1  See  p.  231. 

247 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

was  made  eventually  Chancellor  of  the  kingdom,  though  quite 
unfitted  for  the  office  either  by  training  or  natural  parts. 

“The  Queen-mother,  Princes  and  nobles  of  that  kingdom,” 
says  Lord  Herbert  of  Cherbury,  “repined  that  his  advices  to 
the  King  should  be  so  prevalent,  which  also  at  least  caused  a 
civil  war  in  that  kingdom.  How  unfit  this  man  was  for  the 
credit  he  had  with  the  King  may  be  argued  from  this:  that 
when  there  was  question  made  about  some  business  in  Bohemia, 
he  demanded  whether  it  was  an  inland  country  or  lay  upon 
the  sea.” 

Once  firmly  established  in  power,  Luynes’s  great  ambition 
was  to  found  a  House.  Llaving  himself  married  a  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  Montbazon,  he  obtained  the  hands  of  wealthy 
heiresses  for  both  his  brothers,  and  placed  all  the  members  of 
his  family  in  good  positions.  “Poor  cousins  poured  out  of 
Avignon  by  the  ship-load  and  shared  in  his  favors.”  In  1619 
the  King  presented  him  with  the  estate  of  Maille  on  the  Loire, 
bought  from  a  family  of  that  name  who  had  held  it  from 
father  to  son  for  thirteen  generations.  Louis  erected  it  into 
a  duche-pairie  and  the  name  was  changed  to  Luynes,  the 
favorite  bearing  thereafter  the  title  of  Duke  of  Luynes 

The  chateau  of  Maille  or  Luynes,  one  of  the  most  impres¬ 
sive  feudal  castles  in  Touraine,  stands  about  seven  miles  below 
Tours  on  a  steep  ridge  commanding  the  high-road  that  skirts 
the  right  bank  of  the  Loire.  Like  so  many  other  chateaux  it 
had  its  origin  in  a  Roman  fort,  the  site  being  occupied  later 
by  an  Xlth  century  keep,  torn  down  in  the  XVth  century  to 
make  room  for  the  present  building.  The  little  town  hugs 
the  bottom  of  the  hill  and  partly  climbs  it;  many  of  the  still 
occupied  houses  both  here  and  along  the  road  from  Tours  are 
ancient  cave-dwellings  hewn  out  of  the  rock  at  some  remote 


CHATEAU  OF  LUYNES 


SHOWING  PART  OF  THE  FEUDAL  BUILDING  OF  THE  XVth  CENTURY 


an  inland  country  or  lay  upon 


. 

<  '!  ’  i 

•remote 


LUYNES 


period,  and  now  fitted  with  doors  and  windows  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  a  more  luxurious  age.  The  chimneys  are  run 
up  through  the  rock  to  the  level  above  and  stick  out  from 
among  the  bushes  and  grass  at  every  possible  angle  and  with 
the  oddest  effect.  In  some  places  where  there  is  an  upper 
story  reached  by  ladder  from  without,  and  especially  where 
the  rocky  soil  shows  streaks  of  bright  red  and  yellow,  they 
look  like  the  colored  pictures  of  the  cave-dwellings  of  Arizona. 

Luynes  is  a  clean,  pretty  little  town,  gay  too  when  decked 
for  a  fete.1  Then  the  housewives  hang  out  their  linen  sheets 
lengthwise  before  the  doors  and  windows,  thus  forming  a  con¬ 
tinuous  drapery  along  both  sides  of  the  street;  on  these  they 
pin  roses  and  bunches  of  flowers,  and  down  the  center  of  the 
roadway  they  strew  a  path  of  rushes  and  asparagus  stalks  and 
rose-leaves.  As  the  wind  gently  flaps  the  sheets  to  and  fro 
and  the  sun  shines  upon  their  glistening  whiteness,  it  looks  as 
though  the  whole  town  had  been  wainscoted  in  Dresden  china. 

The  main  street  winds  and  climbs  and  ends  in  front  of  the 
Church  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  a  commonplace  structure  put  up  to 
replace  an  ancient  church  torn  down  in  1871  Close  to  it  is 
a  XVth  century  house  with  quaint  wood-carvings  of  St.  James 
with  his  pilgrim’s  staff  and  scrip  and  scallop  shell,  the  Virgin 
with  the  dead  Christ,  St.  Christopher,  and  Ste.  Genevieve,  who 
is  represented  carrying  a  taper,  which,  as  fast  as  the  Devil 
(seen  above  her  shoulder)  blows  it  out,  she  relights  with  her 
finger.  It  commemorates  an  adventure  the  Saint  is  said  to 
have  met  with  one  stormy  night  when  conducting  her  virgins 
to  prayers. 

The  castle,  which  looms  high  overhead,  is  reached  by  stone 
steps  leading  up  from  behind  the  dusky  market-place  with  its 

1  The  fete  de  Dieu  in  June. 

251 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

steep  over-hanging  slate  roof  and  archaic-looking  wooden  pil¬ 
lars.  On  either  side  lie  gay  little  gardens  and  vineyards  and 
orchards  terraced  out  of  the  hillside,  once,  no  doubt,  as  bare 
and  forbidding  as  the  grim  cliff  of  castle  wall  above.  At  the 
top  a  deep  ravine  is  crossed  by  a  stone  bridge  replacing  the 
ancient  drawbridge,  and  within  there  is  a  square  court  bounded 
by  the  buildings  of  the  old  chateau  on  two  sides,  by  a  XVIIth 
century  wing  on  the  west,  and  on  the  side  overlooking  the  town 
and  the  Loire  valley  by  a  paved  terrace  planted  with  a  thick 
row  of  trees. 

Though  the  first  Duke  of  Luynes  only  lived  to  enjoy  his 
honors  for  two  years  (he  died  of  fever  at  Monheur,  December, 
1621,  while  conducting  a  campaign  against  the  Protestants), 
his  ambition  to  found  a  House  that  should  endure  was  realized, 
for  the  chateau  of  Luynes  along  with  the  title  is  still  held  by 
his  descendants. 

The  only  part  of  the  chateau  shown  to  visitors  is  the  chemin- 
de-rondc ,  protected  by  the  battlements  and  reached  by  a  stair 
in  the  old  part.  From  thence  can  be  seen  on  a  neighboring 
hilltop  the  manor  of  St.  Venant,  on  the  site  of  a  convent  of 
that  name  formerly  supplied  with  water  by  an  aqueduct  whose 
ruins  are  still  standing  a  mile  or  so  off  to  the  northeast.  This 
aqueduct,  long  supposed  to  be  of  Roman  origin,  is  now  believed 
by  archaeologists  to  be  “not  earlier  than  the  Hid  century,  and 
probably  some  three  centuries  later.”  The  chapel  of  St.  Ve¬ 
nant  has  been  turned  into  a  storehouse,  and  such,  too,  is  the 
fate  of  the  chapel  of  the  Canonesses  of  St.  Sepulchre,  standing 
close  to  the  chateau  across  the  second  moat.  The  windows 
have  been  clumsily  walled  up  and  the  fine  carvings  of  the 
portal  mutilated,  yet  enough  remains  to  show  that  this  must 
once  have  been  a  quite  beautiful  church,  before  the  Revolution 

252 


CHATEAU  OF 


* 


LUYNES 


' 


. 


LUYNES 


followed  by  a  century  of  neglect  had  reduced  it  to  its  present 
condition.  The  revolutionnaire  who  was  responsible  for  most 
of  the  mischief  blew  his  brains  out  at  the  age  of  eighty-one, 
not,  however,  from  contrition,  but  because  “he  had  the  rheu¬ 
matism  and  could  not  stand  it.” 

The  Hospital  in  the  town  was  founded  in  1690  by  Louis 
Charles  d’ Albert,  third  Duke  of  Luynes.  In  the  chapel  is  seen 
the  founder’s  tomb,  placed  there  because,  as  the  epitaph  states, 
“although  he  lived  in  this  world  with  all  the  eclat  to  which 
his  birth  and  rank  entitled  him,  he  desired  after  death  to  lie 
among  the  poor  whom  he  so  tenderly  loved.”  Beside  him  lies 
his  second  wife,  the  haute  et  puissante  Anne  de  Rohan,  the 
circumstances  of  whose  marriage  were  unusual.  The  Duke 
had  lost  his  first  wife  very  early,  and  in  his  affliction  he  took 
to  spending  so  much  of  his  time  with  the  religious  community 
of  Port-Royal  des  Champs  that  his  family  became  alarmed 
lest  he  should  enter  the  brotherhood  altogether.  With  much 
difficulty  he  was  induced  to  return  to  the  world,  when  the  first 
thing  he  did  was  to  fall  madly  in  love  with  his  own  aunt,  Anne 
de  Rohan,  herself  destined  for  the  Church,  and  who  had  al¬ 
ready  taken  the  white  veil.  Nevertheless,  the  Duke’s  mother, 
the  Duchess  de  Chevreuse,  overcame  her  sister’s  scruples,  and, 
having  influence  at  Rome  as  well  as  a  great  deal  of  money, 
she  got  a  dispensation.  The  marriage  took  place  and  turned 
out  very  happily.  When  Anne  de  Rohan  died,  leaving  seven 
children,  the  Duke  promptly  married  again,  so  completely  was 
he  cured  of  his  leanings  towards  the  cloister. 

In  Luynes  we  see  almost  our  last  of  the  feudal  chateau.  At 
Chaumont,  it  is  true,  we  shall  find  the  main  features  still  pre¬ 
served,  but  without  the  grim,  uncompromising  look,  the  spaces 
of  blank  wall  pierced  only  by  occasional  loop-holes,  and  the 

255 


THE  CHATEAUX  OE  TO U RAIN E 


fortress-like  aspect  of  the  whole.  These  things  were  to  dis¬ 
appear  forever,  together  with  the  necessities  that  gave  them 
birth,  and  in  their  place  arose  the  radiant  dwellings  of  the 
Renaissance.  No  longer  occupying  barren  hilltops,  but  placed 
on  the  banks  of  the  streams,  these  henceforth  merely  played 
at  defence,  the  moats  serving  as  ornamental  water-ways,  and 
the  towers  as  a  graceful  architectural  device  for  breaking  up 
the  surface  of  a  fagade.  At  the  chateau  of  Chenonceaux  we 
shall  find  the  very  embodiment  of  this  change. 


CHENONCEAUX 


CHAPT1 

CHENON 

|  of  Tours  in  the  valley  c  • 

.v  tlie  forest  .0 /H'lhc er.f. 
v,  •  Tom  the  railroad  static 
the.  .  c  h<  chateau  is  approach 

BMf  ■  Jg  ’ !  t  '/i  " :  .  ■ 

ng 

c?C  '  gate 

. 

ice.  You  can  p  eture  the 

' 

' 


CHATEAU  OF  CHENONCEAUX:  PRINCIPAL  ENTRANCE 


CHAPTER  X 


CHENONCEAUX 

THE  village  of  Chenonceaux  lies  about  twenty  miles  east 
of  Tours  in  the  valley  of  the  Cher  and  on  the  edge  of 
the  forest  of  Amboise.  A  footpath  leads  across  the 
fields  from  the  railroad  station  to  the  park  gates,  and  from 
thence  the  chateau  is  approached  by  a  stately  avenue. 

On  either  hand  one  now  and  again  catches  glimpses  of  long, 
shady  alley-ways,  pierced  only  occasionally  by  a  flickering  ray 
of  sunshine,  and  terminating  in  clearings  that  seem  to  lie  in 
a  sort  of  emerald  twilight.  The  avenue  ends  at  a  second  gate 
guarded  bv  two  granite  sphinxes,  and  facing  this  rises  the 
-chateau. 

Chenonceaux  is  an  almost  perfect  example  of  the  French 
Renaissance  before  the  Italian  influence  had  come  to  cool 
down  its  exuberance.1  It  seems  like  something  that  has  burst 
into  spontaneous  and  joyous  existence.  You  can  picture  the 
chatelaine  and  the  architect2  and  the  master-builder,  exulting 
together  in  the  pride  of  their  work  as  it  unfolded  itself  day 

1  “The  Renaissance  in  France,  and  es-  .  .  .  sur  VHistoire  de  Chenonceaux.  M. 
pecially  in  Touraine,  antedates  the  ar-  1’  Abbe  Ch.  Chevalier, 
rival  of  the  Italian  artists  by  a  good  2  He  was  Pierre  Nepveu,  called  Trin- 
-tnany  years.  Rosso  and  Primaticcio  only  queau,  and  was  the  architect  of  Cham- 
•came  to  France  in  1530-31.”  Rapport  bord  and  of  a  part  of  Blois  as  well. 

26l 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

by  day  more  radiant,  even,  than  they  had  seen  it  in  their  dreams. 
Here  is  nothing  to  suggest  feudality  or  strength.  It  is  a  place 
built  for  pleasure  alone,  with  no  thought  of  wars  and  tumults, 
of  surprises  and  assaults,  of  sieges  and  sorties. 

In  the  XYth  century  Chenonceaux  belonged  to  a  family  of 
Auvergne  named  Marques.  They  sided  with  the  Burgundians 
in  the  English  wars,  and  the  seigneur,  Jean  Marques,  placed 
an  English  garrison  in  his  castle.  After  a  victory  won  in  the 
plain  of  Saintes-Georges  by  the  French  Marshal,  Laval  de 
Bois-Dauphin,  the  garrison  was  reduced,  the  fortifications  of 
Chenonceaux  were  laid  level  with  the  ground,  and  its  seigneur, 
condemned  as  a  traitor  and  a  rebel,  was  thrown  into  prison, 
where  he  died.  His  son,  taking  the  lesson  to  heart,  did  homage 
to  King  Charles  VII  m  1431,  and  was  allowed  to  re-fortifv 
his  chateau.  His  son,  Pierre  Marques,  inherited  the  estate 
and  built  a  mill  close  by  on  a  pier  in  the  middle  of  the  river 
Cher;  but  he  got  into  difficulties  and  one  of  his  creditors, 
Thomas  Bolder,  belonging  to  that  family  of  brilliant  if  un¬ 
scrupulous  financiers  whose  administration  under  Francis  I 
ended  so  disastrously,1  foreclosed.  Pierre  Marques,  utterly 
ruined,  had  at  last  to  resign  the  ancestral  home  of  his  race, 
and,  in  1496,  Thomas  Bohier  took  possession. 

The  new  proprietor  had  been  general  des  finances  in  Nor¬ 
mandy  under  Louis  XI,  and  had  made  a  large  fortune.  Some 
years  after  acquiring  Chenonceaux  he  pulled  down  all  the 
buildings  except  the  donjon,  and  he  or  his  wife  or  their  archi¬ 
tect  conceived  the  bold  design  of  converting  the  mill  of  the 
Marques  into  a  dwelling-house.  Before  the  work  had  advanced 
far  Thomas  Bohier  was  sent  by  Louis  XII  on  a  mission  to 
Italy,  and  his  wife,  Katherine  Briqonnet,  went  on  with  the 

1  See  p.  300. 

262 


CHENONCEAUX 


building.  It  is  to  her,  indeed,  that  the  historian  of  the  chateau,. 
M.  l’Abbe  Chevalier,  gives  most  of  the  credit  for  this  master¬ 
piece  of  architecture.  “It  is  she,  Katherine  Brigonnet,”  he 
says,  “who  introduced  into  the  buildings  of  Chenonceaux  that 
fairy-like  grace,  that  unique  charm  and  originality  of  design 
that  captivate  the  beholder  from  the  moment  that  his  eye  rests 
upon  them.”  She  was  a  niece  on  her  mother’s  side  of  Jacques 
de  Beaune-Semblengay,  later  Superintendent  of  Finances  under 
Francis  I,  and  her  father  was  Guillaume  Brigonnet,  Charles 
VUIth’s  Minister  and  Superintendent  of  Finances,  who  was 
created  Cardinal  of  St.  Malo.  It  is  related  that  an  astrologer 
announced  one  day  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  that  Brigonnet 
was  to  be  made  a  Cardinal.  The  lady,  though  far  from  pleased, 
took  the  prediction  seriously,  and  since  it  could  mean  but  one 
thing,  made  her  preparations.  Sure  enough,  before  long  she 
died,  her  husband,  accepting  his  destiny,  entered  the  Church, 
was  made  a  Bishop  and  eventually  received  a  Cardinal’s  hat 
from  Pope  Alexander  VI. 

Thomas  Bohier  died  in  Italy  in  1523,  soon  after  the  disgrace 
and  imprisonment  of  his  wife’s  uncle  and  his  own  chief,  Jacques 
de  Beaune-Semblengay.  His  affairs  were  deeply  involved  and 
it  was  asserted  that  his  accounts  were  short  by  the  amount  of 
90,000  livres  turnois,  or  about  2,000,000  francs.  His  son  and 
heir,  Antoine  Bohier,  was  obliged  to  resign  Chenonceaux  to 
satisfy  his  father’s  debt,  and  the  Constable,  Anne  de  Mont¬ 
morency,  took  possession  in  the  name  of  the  King,  Francis  I. 

The  Bohiers  had  not  been  able  to  finish  their  chateau,  per¬ 
haps  they  hardly  hoped  to  do  so,  for  on  the  oak  door  of  the 
donjon  of  the  Marques  they  carved  the  not  very  confident 
motto:  S’il  vient  a  point  m’en  souviendra  (if  all  turns  out  well, 
I  will  remember  it).  Yet,  seen  from  the  front,  all  is  their  work,. 

263 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

and  even  the  donjon  they  transformed,  throwing  out  a  pointed 
tourelle  on  the  one  side  and  a  tall  chimney  on  the  other,  and 
breaking  its  severe  surface  with  carved  Renaissance  windows. 

Separating  the  donjon  from  the  rest  of  the  chateau,  runs 
the  branch  of  the  Cher  that  forms  the  moat.  Its  steep  banks 
faced  with  stone  are  half  hidden  by  masses  of  brilliant  flowers, 
bunches  of  trumpet-blossoms,  long  spears  of  Canterbury-bells, 
the  reddish  bloom  of  the  Mas  terrestre,  white  marsh  lilies,  and 
many  others,  all,  with  their  vivid  foliage,  clinging  to  the  mossy 
stones  and  dipping  down  to  the  water’s  edge,  or  else  flinging 
themselves  up  to  the  very  summit  of  the  embankment  in  a 
wild  exuberance  of  life  and  strength. 

A  stone  bridge  cut  in  the  centre  by  a  drawbridge  leads  across 
the  moat  to  a  square  terrace,  and  from  the  bridge  you  have 
your  first  view  of  the  Cher.  It  ripples  suddenly  into  view, 
almost  at  your  feet,  wide,  clear,  and  sparkling,  flowing  swiftly 
through  its  winding  channel,  gurgling  about  the  great  stone 
piers,  lapping  the  green  banks,  and  reflecting  every  stone  and 
pinnacle  of  the  pile  in  its  cool  bosom. 

The  square  main  part  of  the  building  rests  upon  two  huge 
piers  of  masonry  in  which  are  the  kitchens  and  offices.  Above 
these  rise  two  stories  and  a  steep  roof  broken  by  highly  orna¬ 
mented  dormer  windows,  peaked  tourelles  and  tall  chimneys. 
In  this  roof  Catherine  de  Medicis  is  said  to  have  lodged  her 
cscadron  volant 1  when,  long  after  the  Bohiers’  day,  she  feted 
her  three  sons,  one  after  another,  at  Chenonceaux. 

At  each  angle  rises  a  round  tower,  and  beyond  the  tower  on 
the  left,  as  you  face  the  entrance,  a  lofty  chapel  is  thrown  out 
resting  upon  a  single  pier  of  its  own.  The  main  door,  now 
surmounted  by  a  carved  stone  balcony  as  in  the  original  design, 
is  of  that  shade  of  faded  green  that  only  time  and  a  certain 

1  See  p.  277. 

264 


CHATEAU  OF  CHENONCEAUX  SHOWING  CHAPEL  AND  DONJON 


( 

' 


CHENONCEAUX 


amount  of  exposure  seem  able  to  produce.  The  woodwork  is 
painted  and  gilded,  and  harmonizes  agreeably  with  the  creamy 
hue  of  the  masonry.  Where  the  stonework  gives  a  painful  im¬ 
pression  of  lately  having  been  scraped,  it  is  in  reality  the  marks 
of  the  operations  which  the  present  proprietor  is  conducting 
with  every  possible  care,  and  with  the  object  of  restoring  the 
fagade  to  its  original  state. 

From  the  door  a  spacious  hall  extends  through  to  the  long 
gallery  across  the  Cher,  which,  although  added  after  the  Bo¬ 
thers’  time  was  included  in  their  plan.  Opening  from  the  hall  on 
the  left  is  the  Guard  room,  and  beyond  it  the  chapel,  small  but 
lofty,  and  containing  some  fine  old  stained  glass  and  a  carved 
XVIth  century  tribune.  Other  rooms  are  shown,  the  bed¬ 
chamber  of  Francis  I,  with  a  handsome  chimney-piece,  and 
those  of  Diane  of  Poitiers  and  of  Louis  XIII.  The  most  inter¬ 
esting  of  all,  perhaps,  is  the  small  apartment  called  the  cabinet 
vert,  used  by  Catherine  de  Medicis  as  a  boudoir  and  where 
she  used  to  write  her  letters  and  dispatches.  Of  all  the  rooms 
this  seems  to  have  preserved  most  the  old-world  flavor.  The 
ceiling,  carved  with  her  initial,  has  remained  untouched  since 
her  day,  and  one  can  fancy  the  Queen,  at  some  knotty  point 
in  her  correspondence,  throwing  herself  back  and  interrogating 
those  identical  carved  and  painted  K’s  in  search  of  inspiration 
to  guide  her  in  her  crooked  policy. 

In  the  library  are  seen  a  number  of  original  documents, 
among  which  it  is  interesting,  in  this  place,  to  note  one  bearing 
the  signature  of  Catherine’s  life-long  rival,  Diane  of  Poitiers, 
Duchess  of  Valentinois. 

Diane  was  the  daughter  of  Jean  de  Poitiers,  Sieur  de  Saint- 
Vallier.1  She  was  born  in  1499  and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  married 
Louis  de  Breze,  Seneschal  of  Normandy,  then  fifty-five.  They 

1  See  p.  80. 

267 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

had  two  daughters,  married  by  their  clever  mother  the  one  to 
Robert  IV  de  la  Mark,  Duke  of  Bouillon,  and  the  other  to 
Claude  de  Lorraine,  Duke  of  Aumale,  a  brother  of  the  Duke 
of  Guise. 

In  1531  the  Seneschal  died,  and  four  years  later  his  widow 
became  maitresse  en  litre  of  the  Dauphin,  later  Henry  II,  then 
only  eighteen  years  old.  Her  influence  over  this  young  Prince 
was  absolute,  and  when  he  ascended  the  throne  in  1547  one  of 
his  first  acts  was  to  strip  Madame  d’Estampes,  his  late  father’s 
favorite,  of  her  estates  of  Beune  and  Limours  in  order  to  give 
them  to  Diane,  whom  at  the  same  time  he  created  Duchess  of 
Valentinois.  This,  however,  was  not  enough.  Diane  had  long 
coveted  Chenonceaux,  and  her  royal  lover,  alleging  as  his  reason 
the  “great  and  very  commendable  services  rendered  to  the 
crown  by  her  late  husband,  Louis  de  Breze,”  now  presented 
her  with  that  estate,  of  which  a  deed  of  gift  was  drawn  up 
in  due  form.  Still  the  widow  was  not  satisfied.  Reflecting 
upon  the  ease  with  which  Madame  d’Lstampes  had  been  de¬ 
spoiled  in  her  own  favor,  she  declared  she  would  never  feel  safe 
until  Chenonceaux  was  absolutely  secured  to  her  and  there 
could  be  no  question  of  the  “alienation  of  crown  property.”  A 
complicated  law-suit  was  therefore  begun.  First  of  all,  Antoine 
Bolder  was  charged  with  having  rated  the  property  at  just 
double  its  actual  value  when  he  ceded  it  to  the  crown  to  satisfy 
the  shortage  in  his  father’s  accounts.  He  protested  that  it  had 
been  appraised  by  a  royal  commission  and  that  the  late  King, 
Francis  I,  had  approved  of  the  transaction.  No  attention  was 
paid  to  the  protest  and  Bolder,  suspecting  a  plot  to  ruin  him, 
threw  up  his  office  of  general  des  finances  and  fled  to  Italy. 
After  this  matters  proceeded  merrily.  The  process  of  1525 
was  annulled  and  Antoine  Bolder,  once  more  and  in  spite  of 

268 


•himself  proprietor 
good  his  late  father 
announced  that  the  ; 
this  point  Diane,  wh< 
tion,  came  forward  -an 
turnois.  Eoluer,  w 
given  the  remaining 
required  of  him,  and 
a  clear  title  at  last. 

the  most  beautiful  w  . 

'  >  ,  hat  he  c 

to  be  moved  mere 


raux,  was  again  ’  s  i  to  make 
.  he  could  not  do  t  t  was 
would  be  confiscated,  but  ist 
not  appeared  <  E  tra 

l-1 17.  u  v-roGi  -V 

debt,  signed  everythin  ' 

■ 

.  ornaii  o  .i 

She  \v a  ■  ■  ;  ■ 


* 


and  :i  tip  aa h  j  :*ht  ho  av i  \\ 


Yet,  unde 


nalterable  go-  ■■  !  . 
he  favorite  hm. ,,  h. 


nan 

iimiiy  or- 

• 

.  ted  the  King. 

. 

► 

'  .  r<  v.  ]  t  bridge  a .  »:•  * 


CHATEAU  OF  C H EN ONCE  AUX,  LOOKING  UP-STREAM  FROM  THE 
RIGHT  BANK  OF  THE  CHER 


CHENONCEAUX 


himself  proprietor  of  Chenonceaux,  was  again  ordered  to  make 
good  his  late  father’s  deficit.  As  he  could  not  do  this  it  was 
announced  that  the  property  would  be  confiscated,  but  just  at 
this  point  Diane,  who  hitherto  had  not  appeared  in  the  transac¬ 
tion,  came  forward  and  offered  to  buy  it  for  50,000  livres 
turnois.  Bohier,  who  was  brought  back  from  Italy  and  for¬ 
given  the  remaining  40,000  livres  of  debt,  signed  everything 
required  of  him,  and  Diane  congratulated  herself  upon  having 
a  clear  title  at  last. 

The  widow,  at  this  time  hard  on  to  fifty,  was  still  accounted 
the  most  beautiful  woman  of  her  day.  Brantome,  describing 
her  nearly  twenty  years  later,  says  that  even  then  she  was  as 
fresh  and  vigorous  as  a  well-preserved  woman  of  thirty,  and 
so  lovely  that  he  could  not  conceive  of  a  heart  so  stony  as  not 
to  be  moved  merely  by  the  sight  of  her.  She  was  strong  and 
active,  with  brilliant  complexion,  somewhat  irregular  features 
and  a  tip-tilted  nose.  Apart  from  her  beauty  she  attracted  by 
her  splendid  physical  health  and  by  her  unalterable  good-humor. 
Yet,  underneath  this  pleasing  exterior,  the  favorite  hid  a  hard, 
narrow,  avaricious  nature  in  which  equanimity  passed  for  kind¬ 
liness  and  bigotry  for  piety.  Her  fanaticism  in  matters  of  re¬ 
ligion  joined  readily  with  that  of  Montmorency  and  the  Guises, 
and  among  them  they  completely  dominated  the  King. 

Apart  from  intrigue,  Diane’s  chief  interest  lay  in  gardening, 
and  at  Chenonceaux  she  gave  this  taste  full  scope.  One  may 
fancy  her,  a  trim,  graceful  figure  in  garden  hat  and  gloves, 
moving  about  among  her  shrubs  and  flower-beds  and  directing 
the  workmen  as  they  laid  out  the  great  parterre  in  the  new 
fashion  lately  introduced  from  Italy  by  Passelo  de  Mercogliano. 
She  employed  Philibert  De  l’Orme  to  throw  the  bridge  across 
the  Cher  which  the  Bohiers  had  never  been  able  to  build,  and 

271 


24 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

was  in  full  tide  of  possession,  with  plans  for  further  additions 
on  foot,  when  the  King’s  sudden  death  put  an  end  to  all.  The 
Queen,  whom  she  had  supplanted  and  humiliated  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  was  to  have  her  day  at  last. 

The  marriage  of  Henry  II  to  a  daughter  of  the  House  of 
Medicis,  though  it  took  place  when  he  was  as  yet  only  Duke 
of  Orleans  and  the  King’s  younger  son,  was  from  the  first  ex¬ 
tremely  unpopular  in  France.  It  was  a  mesalliance  which  only 
the  bride’s  enormous  dowry  and  her  family  influence  in  Italy 
made  possible.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Lorenzo  de  Medicis 
and  Madeleine  de  la  Tour  d’ Auvergne.1  Both  parents  died 
within  a  few  days  of  her  birth,  leaving  her  one  of  the  richest 
heiresses  in  Europe.  When  she  was  fourteen  years  old  her 
uncle,  Julien  de  Medicis,  better  known  as  Pope  Clement  VII,  de¬ 
termined  that  she  should  make  a  brilliant  marriage.  His  first  at¬ 
tempt  was  to  marry  her  to  the  Dauphin,  but  this  Francis  I, 
though  desperately  anxious  for  the  Medician  support  in  Italy, 
would  not  listen  to.  Even  after  he  had  agreed  to  the  match  with 
his  younger  son  he  still  hung  back,  and  it  required  all  the  address 
of  another  of  Catherine’s  uncles,  John,  Duke  of  Albany,2  to 
keep  him  to  his  bargain.  Finally  in  October,  1533,  a  train, 
royal  in  its  proportions,  set  forth  from  Florence  to  escort  the 
little  Duchess  to  Leghorn,  where  she  was  to  meet  the  Pope.  The 
country  people,  it  is  said,  wondered  to  see  the  size  and  mag¬ 
nificence  of  this  triumphal  procession  composed  of  upwards  of 
a  thousand  persons  and  headed  by  Catherine  riding  between 
her  cousin,  Philip  Strozzi,  and  her  half-brother,  Alexander  de 

1  Thus  Catherine  and  Diane  were  2  He  was  a  son  of  Alexander,  Duke  of 
cousins,  the  latter's  father,  Jean  de  Albany,  brotherof  James  III,  of  Scotland, 
Poitiers,  having  been  a  son  of  Jeanne  and  had  married  Anne  de  la  Tour  de  Bou- 
de  Boulogne,  aunt  of  Madeleine  de  la  logne,  Catherine’s  aunt.  He  was  Regent 
Tour  d’  Auvergne.  of  Scotland  during  James  V’s  minority. 

272 


CHENONCEAUX 

Medicis.1  Though  no  formal  announcement  had  as  yet  been 
made,  and  Catherine  herself  did  not  know  the  object  of  the 
journey  until  after  she  started,  there  were  rumors  abroad  that 
it  was  a  question  of  her  marriage. 

At  Leghorn  Catherine  found  the  Pope’s  galley  awaiting  her. 
It  had  been  magnificently  hung  with  crimson  brocade  and  cloth 
of  gold  and  her  own  suite  of  apartments  was  furnished  through¬ 
out  with  rare  objects  selected  from  the  famous  Medician  collec¬ 
tions.  The  journey  was  continued  by  water  to  Marseilles,  where 
the  party  was  met  by  the  French  court,  and  the  marriage  was 
celebrated  without  delay  in  order  to  satisfy  the  Pope’s  impa¬ 
tience.  When  the  dowry,  a  hundred  thousand  gold  ducats, 
was  paid  over  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  court,  some  of 
the  French  courtiers  were  heard  to  murmur  audibly  that  it 
was  very  little  to  get  for  such  a  mesalliance;  whereupon  the 
Cardinal  Hippolyte  replied  that  they  spoke  ignorantly,  his 
Holiness  having  engaged  to  give,  in  addition,  three  pearls  of 
inestimable  value,  namely,  Genoa,  Milan  and  Naples.  The  wed¬ 
ding  festivities  lasted  for  thirty  days,  and  then  the  bride,  after 
receiving  many  costly  presents  from  her  uncle,  the  Pope,  in 
addition  to  much  shrewd  worldly  advice,  bade  farewell  to  her 
relatives  and  countrymen  and  prepared  to  enter  on  her  new  life. 

Catherine  was  not  handsome,  but  she  was  strong  and  active ; 
she  rode  extremely  well,  had  large,  expressive  eyes,  beautifully 
shaped  neck  and  arms,  and  great  vivacity ;  and  she  was  always 
well  dressed.  Yet  her  husband  never  cared  for  her;  she  had 
no  following  at  court,  and  the  marriage,  ill-received  from  the 
beginning,  was  deeply  regretted  in  France,  when,  by  the  sudden 
death  of  his  brother  in  1536,  Henry  became  Dauphin. 

1  Called  il  Duco  della  Citta  di  Penna.  the  Emperor  Charles  V’s  favorite  child. 
He  was  an  illegitimate  son  of  Lorenzo  Alexander  was  murdered  by  Lorenzino 
II,  and  married  the  Bastarde  Marguerite,  de  Medicis. 

273 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

The  change  brought  no  relief  to  the  Dauphine.  Already 
Diane  de  Poitiers  had  acquired  a  complete  ascendency  over  her 
husband,  and  her  troubles  were  further  aggravated  by  the 
fact  that  for  ten  years  after  her  marriage  she  had  no  children. 
Haunted  by  a  dread  of  being  repudiated  and  sent  back  to  Italy, 
she  did  all  in  her  power  to  conciliate,  was  involved  in  no  scandals 
or  intrigues,  and  won  the  careless,  good-natured  liking  of  the 
King,  her  father-in-law,  by  her  “modesty  and  obedience.” 
When  at  length  children  began  to  come,  she  spent  most  of  her 
time  in  the  nursery  even  after  she  became  Queen,  preoccupied 
with  minute  details  of  her  children’s  welfare,  their  health,  their 
surroundings  and  their  clothes. 

Thus  twenty-six  years  went  by,  and  then  Henry  II  was  acci¬ 
dentally  killed  in  a  tournament  by  a  Scottish  knight  named 
Montgomery.  The  Oueen  expressed  exaggerated  grief  for  her 
husband’s  death,  wore  weeds  for  the  rest  of  her  life,  and  al¬ 
ways  maintained  the  fiction  that  she  had  lost  a  loving  and 
adored  spouse.  Nevertheless,  she  chafed  during  the  forty  days 
of  mourning  which  French  etiquette  required  her  to  spend  in 
the  darkened  chamber  of  her  late  lord,  and  one  of  her  first 
acts  upon  emerging  once  more  into  the  world  was  to  strike  a 
blow  at  her  rival.  Notwithstanding  the  extraordinary  meas¬ 
ures  taken  to  safeguard  the  title  of  Chenonceaux,  the  Duchess 
of  Valentinois  was  summoned  to  resign  that  property  to  the 
Oueen-mother,  and  to  take  in  exchange  for  it  the  estate  of 
Chaumont-sur-Loire,  bought  by  Catherine  in  1551.  She  was 
also  ordered  to  give  up  the  crown  jewels  which  Henry  II  had 
eiven  her.  The  Duchess  did  not  care  in  the  least  for  Chaumont- 

o 

sur-Loire  and  she  dearly  loved  the  chateau  on  the  Cher,  but, 
since  no  one  knew  better  than  herself  the  futility  of  resistance 
in  such  cases,  she  yielded;  sorrowfully  abandoned  her  silk- 

274 


CHENONCEAUX 


worms  and  horticultural  experiments,  delivered  over  the  crown 
jewels,  and  departed.  The  deed  of  exchange  was  drawn  up 
at  Chi  non  in  1 560. 

Catherine  had  always  wanted  Chenonceaux;  she  had  even 
said  as  much  to  Francis  I,  whom  she  sometimes  accompanied 
thither  on  his  hunting  expeditions;  but  no  notice  was  taken 
of  the  hint  and  she  had  the  double  mortification  to  see  it  go 
to  her  all-fortunate  rival.  Now  that  the  chateau  was  hers  at 
last  she  was  eager  with  plans  to  alter  and  enlarge  it.  Diane’s 
bridge  across  the  Cher  was  surmounted  by  a  two-storied  gal¬ 
lery  designed  for  hunting  suppers,  torchlight  dances  and  fetes 
of  every  description.  The  Queen  also  erected  the  long,  low 
building  seen  on  the  right  of  the  approach,  now  used  as  stables, 
and  made  some  less  happy  additions  to  the  main  building  which 
have  since  been  removed.  Elaborate  new  gardens  were  like¬ 
wise  laid  out  by  her  orders  under  the  direction  of  Bernard 
Palissy.  Before,  however,  there  was  time  to  do  any  of  these 
things  she  signalized  her  ownership  by  giving  there,  in  the 
spring  of  1560,  a  splendid  fete  to  her  son,  Francis  II,  and  his 
Queen,  Mary  Stuart. 

The  entire  court  had  been  almost  in  a  state  of  siege,  shut  up 
by  the  Guises  at  Amboise  during  the  Renaudie  disturbances 
which  terminated  in  dreadful  scenes  of  wholesale  executions 
Everyone  was  thankful  to  escape  from  the  fortress  and  the 
“horror  of  blood”  to  the  smiling  chateau  on  the  Cher. 

Primaticcio  directed  the  fete,  and  the  young  King  and  Queen 
made  their  state  entry  on  March  31  beneath  triumphal  arches, 
upon  which,  along  with  the  arms  of  France  and  Scotland,  ap¬ 
peared  those  of  England — an  idea  of  Cardinal  Lorraine,  in¬ 
tended  to  emphasize  Mary  Stuart’s  claim  to  the  English  throne. 

A  few  days  later  a  singular  scene  took  place  at  Chenonceaux. 

275 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

The  Prince  of  Conde,  who  had  been  the  secret  leader  of  the 
Renaudie  conspiracy,  selecting  a  moment  when  the  King  was 
surrounded  by  all  the  gentlemen  of  his  Court,  including  the 
two  Guises,  asked  for  an  audience.  He  recalled  the  history 
of  his  House,  and  their  loyal  services  to  the  Crown,  and  com¬ 
plained  of  the  small  consideration  with  which  he  had  himself 
been  treated,  declaring  that  the  government  of  the  kingdom 
could  quite  as  safely  be  confided  to  his  hands  and  to  those  of 
the  members  of  his  family  as  to  the  Guises. 

Then  he  said  that  anyone  asserting  that  he  had  been  con¬ 
cerned  in  a  plot  against  the  person  of  the  King,  lied  wickedly 
and  maliciously,  and  throwing  down  his  glove,  announced  that 
he  was  prepared  to  maintain  this  against  anyone,  high  or  low, 
excepting  always  the  persons  of  the  King  and  of  the  Princes, 
his  brothers. 

While  the  Court  looked  on  stupefied,  the  Duke  of  Guise,  who, 
as  everyone  knew,  was  the  disseminator  of  the  report  and  whose 
overthrow  was  the  object  of  Conde’s  plots,  with  great  presence 
of  mind  stepped  quickly  forward,  and,  to  the  amazement  of 
the  onlookers,  instead  of  picking  up  the  glove,  he  offered  him¬ 
self  as  Conde’s  second. 

He  did  not  think,  he  said,  that  anyone  really  believed  the 
rumor,  but  at  the  same  time  it  was  satisfactory  to  have  the 
Prince’s  own  testimony  to  its  falsity.  Cardinal  Lorraine,  the 
Duke’s  brother,  remained  throughout  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon 
the  ground,  without  uttering  a  word,  and  the  bystanders 
thought  he  seemed  perturbed. 

The  scene  terminated,  Conde  immediately  left  the  Court,  and 
no  further  action  was  taken. 

Three  years  later,  in  1563,  the  Court  again  took  saddle  one 
spring  dav  and  rode  joyously  off  beneath  the  budding  trees  of 

276 


CHENONCEAUX 

the  forest  from  Amboise  to  Chenonceaux.  But  in  those  three 
years  many  changes  had  taken  place.  Francis  II  was  dead, 
and  his  beautiful  young  widow  had  left  France  forever.  The 
Duke  of  Guise,  treacherously  wounded  near  Orleans  in  the  pre¬ 
vious  February,  had  succumbed  six  days  later;  while,  instead  of 
a  Huguenot  massacre,  there  had  this  time  been  enacted  at  Am¬ 
boise  a  measure  so  tolerant  in  its  tone  towards  the  Reformers 
that  for  a  time  it  put  a  stop  to  the  Wars  of  Religion.1 

After  spending  Easter  together  at  Amboise,  the  Queen- 
mother,  with  the  young  King,  Charles  IX,  and  her  other  chil¬ 
dren,  proceeded  to  Chenonceaux,  accompanied  by  a  brilliant 
train.  In  the  company  were  the  new  Duke  of  Guise;  Conde’s 
nephew,  the  Prince  of  Navarre,  afterwards  Henry  IV ;  Conde 
himself,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  Eleanor  de  Roye,  and  their 
eldest  son,  the  Marquis  of  Conti;  and  the  Cardinal-Legate  of 
Ferrara,  a  son  of  the  noble  House  of  Este,  who  had  been  dis¬ 
patched  to  France  expressly  to  watch  Catherine.  This  niece 
of  a  Pope  was  suspected,  and  at  that  time  justly  so,  not  only 
of  favoring  the  Reformers,  but  of  pushing  France  towards  a 
revolt  against  the  Holy  See.  She  was  taking  the  Cardinal- 
Legate  with  her  to  Chenonceaux  in  the  hope  of  lulling  his  sus¬ 
picions,  and  he  was  allowing  her  to  do  so  with  the  expectation 
of  finding  these  more  than  justified. 

It  was  Catherine’s  idea  that  the  waning  popularity  of  the 
Valois  Kings  could  be  revived  by  pageants  and  revels.  Wher¬ 
ever  she  went  she  was  accompanied  by  a  troop  of  beautiful 
young  women  called  in  the  slang  of  the  day  the  “flying  squad¬ 
ron,”  because  their  attractions  formed  a  regular  part  of  the 
Queen-mother’s  political  armament.  On  this  occasion  there 
was  a  week  of  uninterrupted  festivity.  Naval  battles  and 

1The  Edict  of  Amboise,  signed  at  Orleans,,  19th  March,  1563. 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

water  fetes  on  the  Cher  were  followed  by  fireworks1  and  torch¬ 
light  dances  in  the  long  galleries,  while  spirited  encounters  took 
place  in  the  woods  and  gardens  between  troops  of  gentlemen 
and  ladies  of  the  Court  disguised  as  nymphs  and  satyrs.  The 
entertainments  wound  up  with  a  grand  boar-hunt,  so  ordered 
that  the  King  could  give  the  death-thrust  without  himself  en¬ 
countering  the  smallest  risk! 

Throughout  the  revels  Catherine’s  watchful  eye  was  every¬ 
where.  Nothing  was  done  without  her  knowledge,  and  she 
flatteringly  kept  the  Princess  of  Conde  at  her  side,  at  the  same 
time  throwing  the  Prince  constantly  in  the  way  of  Mile.  Isabelle 
de  Limeuil,2  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  fascinating  young 
women  of  the  day.  Conde  was  soon  completely  ensnared  and 
the  Oueen-mother,  working  through  her  maid  of  honor,  was 
able  to  make  him  do  whatever  she  wished,  but  at  the  cost  of  a 
scandal  which  obliged  her  later  to  dismiss  Mile,  de  Limeuil 
from  court,  while  the  Princess  of  Conde  died  neglected  and 
unhappy  in  July  of  the  following  year. 

The  most  extravagant,  however,  of  all  the  fetes  held  at 
Chenonceaux  was  that  given  in  honor  of  Catherine’s  third  son, 
Henry  III,  who  succeeded  his  brother,  Charles  IX,  in  1754.1  £ 
By  this  time  the  tone  of  the  court,  at  no  time  very  high  under  the 
Valois  Kings,  had  still  further  deteriorated.  Henry  received 
his  guests  in  the  garden,  dressed  as  a  woman,  with  low-cut 
doublet,  a  string  of  pearls  about  his  neck,  and  two  high  rufifs 
and  a  deep  embroidered  collar,  after  the  exaggerated  feminine 
fashion  of  the  day.  All  about  him  were  grouped  his  “mignons,’’ 
curled,  painted  and  scented,  and,  like  himself,  wearing  huge 
white  rufifs.  The  banquet  was  served,  on  the  other  hand,  by 

1  This  was  one  of  the  first  occasions  on  which  fireworks  were  seen  in  France. 

2  See  p.  322. 


278 


CHENONCEAUX,  SHOWING  THE  CHAPEL  TO  THE  RIGHT 


VIEWED  FROM  THE  LEFT  BANK  OF  THE  CHEP. 


' 


. 


CHENONCEAUX 

the  ladies  of  the  Court  wearing  men’s  clothing,  but  with  bare 
shoulders  and  flowing  hair.  The  cost  of  this  entertainment 
alone  amounted  to  1,500,000  francs  in  modern  money. 

Catherine  de  Medicis  died  at  Blois  in  January,  1589,  leaving 
Chenonceaux  to  her  daughter-in-law,  Louise  de  Vaudemont- 
Lorraine,  the  wife  of  Henry  III.  This  gentle,  pious  lady  was 
living  at  Chinon  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year  in  such  straits 
that  she  had  been  obliged  to  reduce  her  suite  to  four  ladies-in¬ 
waiting.  Word  came  early  in  August  that  the  King  had  been 
stabbed  at  St.  Cloud  by  a  monk  named  Jacques  Clement.  At 
first  the  doctors  said  that  the  wound  was  not  serious  and  that 
their  patient  would  be  able  to  mount  his  horse  in  ten  days.  He 
wrote  a  line  to  the  Queen  to  inform  her  of  his  condition: 

Ma  Mie: 

You  will  have  heard  of  my  wretched  wound.  I  hope  it  is 
nothing.  Pray  for  me. 

Adieu,  ma  Mie 

Before  the  letter  was  delivered  word  had  come  that  the  King 
was  dead.  None  of  her  ladies  could  summon  sufficient  courage 
to  tell  the  Queen,  and  it  was  at  Chenonceaux  some  days  later 
that  she  learned  of  her  bereavement. 

This  third  widowed  chatelaine  of  Chenonceaux,  gentle, 
affectionate  and  truly  religious,  introduced  new  manners  into 
the  chateau.  The  weeds,  white  in  her  case,  worn  by  Diane  de 
Poitiers  from  coquetry,  and  by  Catherine  de  Medicis  from 
policy,  were  to  her  veritable  mourning  garments.  She  hung 
her  room  with  black  draperies  sewn  with  silver  tears,  and 
beneath  her  husband’s  portrait  had  carved  the  words:  Sozvi 
monumenta  doloris.  The  portrait  disappeared  at  the  Revo¬ 
lution,  but  the  motto  still  remains. 

Louise  de  Vaudemont  had  but  a  meagre  income  for  the 


25 


281 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

widow  of  a  King,  yet  she  contrived  not  only  to  live  at  Chenon- 
ceaux  in  the  state  befitting  her  rank,  but  to  give  generously 
to  the  poor.  At  her  request  Philip  II  of  Spain  sent  her  some 
Spanish  Capucines,  whom  she  established  in  the  attics  of  the 
chateau,  the  quarters  but  lately  vacated  by  Catherine  de  Medi- 
cis’s  “flying  squadron,”  and  her  charities  were  so  large  that 
long  after  her  death  the  name  of  “la  Reine  Blanche,”  which 
had  been  given  to  her,  was  still  held  in  affectionate  remembrance 
by  the  country-people,  whose  interests  she  ever  had  at  heart. 
There  is  an  existing  letter  written  by  her  to  King  Henry  IV, 
whom  she  styles  her  “brother  and  cousin,  the  King  of 
Navarre,”1  in  which  she  asks  relief  from  the  depredations  of 
his  lieutenant,  the  sieur  de  Rosny,  who,  she  says,  has  invaded 
her  lands  with  his  soldiers,  artillery,  horses,  men-at-arms,  and 
other  malefices  de  guerre  (war-spells),  to  the  great  detriment 
of  the  country-people,  “who,  I  beg  you  to  remember,  Monsieur, 
are  my  vassals,  regarded  by  me  like  so  many  beloved  children.” 

This  kindly  lady  was  not  able,  however,  to  keep  Chenonceaux 
uninterruptedly.  When  Catherine  de  Medicis  died  she  left 
debts  amounting  to  10,000,000  francs.  Henry  III  issued  letters 
patent  declaring  her  estate  free  from  all  claims  or  levies,  and 
ordered  that  the  creditors  should  be  paid  from  the  sale  of  her 
personal  property,  which  consisted  mainly  of  the  furnishings 
of  the  Paris  hotel.  In  the  disordered  time  that  followed  the 
assassination  of  Henry  III,  the  Duke  of  Mayenne  and  the 
Duchess  of  Montpensier2  got  possession  of  this  hotel,  with  all 
it  contained.  Henry  IV  and  his  wife,  Margaret  of  Valois, 
finding  the  estate  thus  hopelessly  saddled  with  debt,  renounced 
all  claim  to  it,  whereupon  the  creditors  got  the  letters  patent 

'Henry  of  Navarre  married  for  his  5  Brother  and  sister  of  the  Duke  of 
first  wife  Louise’s  sister-in-law,  Mar-  Guise,  murdered  by  Henry  at  Blois.  See 
garet  of  Valois.  P-  223- 


282 


resign  the  pi  per 

It  seen; 

■  ’S' 

to  the  gay  uadi  tin 

Henry  IV  i‘s  ijav  a 

had  ;  i  "  t  in  •%,: 

■ 

Lean  ■  de  Vau< 
'Host  unc 


.  |  83<  '  ,  '  ' 


and  the  oil 


•si 

. 

■ 


CHATEAU  OF  CHENONCEAUX  WITH  GALLERY  ACROSS  THE  CHER 


CHENONCEAUX 

of  Henry  III  set  aside  and  sent  sheriffs  to  seize  Chenonceaux 
in  the  name  of  the  law.  In  1564  the  Reine  Blanche  had  to 
resign  the  property  and  to  withdraw. 

It  seemed  for  a  time  as  though  Chenonceaux  were  to  return 
to  the  gay  traditions  of  former  days,  for  Gabrielle  d‘Estrees, 
Henry  IVth’s  favorite,  was  the  next  purchaser.  She,  however, 
had  an  object  in  buying  it  and  never  proposed  to  live  there. 

Louise  de  Vaudemont’s  brother,  the  Duke  of  Montcceur,  had 
been  a  most  uncompromising  supporter  of  the  League,1  and 
was  among  the  last  to  lend  it  armed  support  in  Brittany,  where 
he  was  Governor.  His  little  six-year-old  daughter,  Franqoise 
de  Lorraine,  was  not  only  sole  heiress  of  the  House  of 
Penthievre,  but  also  in  part  of  the  huge  fortunes  of  the  Houses 
of  Lorraine  and  Luxembourg.  What  Gabrielle  d’Estrees  now 
proposed  was  to  negotiate  a  pardon  for  the  Duke  of  Montcceur 
on  condition  that  his  daughter  should  be  betrothed  to  Cesar, 
the  four-year-old  son  of  herself  and  King  Henry  IV,  and  that 
the  Duke  should  further  resign  the  title  of  Duke  of  Vendome 
and  the  office  of  Governor  of  Brittany  in  favor  of  his  future 
son-in-law.  For  her  own  part,  she  offered  to  hand  over 
Chenonceaux  to  Louise  de  Vaudemont  for  life,  with  the  under¬ 
standing  that  at  her  death  it  should  go  to  the  young  couple. 
All  of  these  arrangements  were  duly  carried  out  except  that 
the  Duchess  of  Montcoeur  immediately  succeeded  the  Reine 
Blanche  on  the  latter’s  death  in  1601  and  the  Vendomes  did 
not  take  possession  until  1623. 

Like  most  of  his  predecessors  at  Chenonceaux,  Cesar  de 
Vendome  at  once  set  about  making  changes.  He  cut  down  a 
number  of  trees  planted  by  Diane  de  Poitiers  and  was  re¬ 
arranging  the  whole  plan  of  the  grounds  when  the  discovery 

1  See  p.  48. 

285 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINK 

of  the  Plot  of  Chalais,  in  which  he  had  been  concerned,  put  a 
stop  to  his  activities.1  He  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  at 
Amboise.  Though  liberated  later,  he  feared  to  remain  in  France 
within  reach  of  Richelieu’s  long  arm,  and  went  to  Italy,  where 
he  passed  many  years,  waiting  for  the  end  of  the  Cardinal’s 
regime.  His  son,  the  Duke  of  Beaufort,  meanwhile  occupied 
Chenonceaux  occasionally  and  was  visited  there  in  1637  by 
Gaston  d’Orleans  and  his  daughter, the“GrandeMademoiselle.” 
At  last,  in  1650,  the  Duke  of  Vendome,  returned  from  exile, 
is  found  magnificently  entertaining  Anne  of  Austria  and  her 
son,  Louis  XIV,  then  twelve  years  old,  at  Chenonceaux,  along 
with  Cardinal  Mazarin.  One  result  of  this  visit,  the  last  paid 
there  by  royalty,  was  the  marriage  of  Cesar  de  Vendome’s  son 
to  Mazarin’s  niece,  Laura  Mancini. 

From  the  Dukes  of  Vendome  Chenonceaux  passed  to  the 
family  of  Bourbon  through  the  marriage  in  1710  of  the  Duke 
of  Vendome,  one  of  the  great  captains  of  Louis  XIVth’s  time, 
to  Mile.  d’Enghien,  the  extremely  ugly  granddaughter  of  the 
great  Conde.  She  outlived  her  husband,  and,  dying  childless, 
the  estate  passed  first  to  her  mother,  the  Princess  of  Conde,  and 
then  to  her  nephew,  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  who  sold  it  in  1733 
to  M.  Claude  Dupin,  fermier  general  under  Louis  XV.  Mean¬ 
time  the  property  had  fallen  into  a  deplorable  state  of  disrepair. 
Sequestered  in  1677,  for  twenty  years  it  had  been  administered 
in  the  interests  of  the  Duke  of  Vendome’s  creditors ;  the  timber 

1  The  Chalais  Conspiracy  began  in  1625  Duke  of  Orleans  on  the  throne.  When  it 
with  a  court  intrigue  to  prevent  the  mar-  was  discovered  the  Duke  sacrificed  his 
riage  of  Gaston  of  Orleans, Louis  XHIth’s  friends  and  agreed  to  the  marriage, 
brother,  to  Mile,  de  Montpensier,  step-  Henry  de  Talleyrand,  Marquis  of  Cha- 
daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Guise.  Later  it  lais,  the  nominal  chief,  was  beheaded, 
developed  into  a  plot  against  Richelieu,  and  some  of  the  others  died  in  prison, 
with  the  possible  object  of  placing  the 

286 


CHENONCEAUX 


was  cut,  the  fountains  and  gardens  allowed  to  fall  into  ruin, 
and  no  repairs  were  made  of  any  kind.  All  of  this,  M.  and  Mme. 
Dupin  set  to  work  to  remedy;  during  their  time  Chenonceaux 
recovered  something  of  its  former  eclat,  and  became  a  resort 
of  many  of  the  most  famous  men  and  women  of  the  day.  There 
Jean  Jacques  Rousseau,  engaged  for  a  time  as  tutor  to  their 
only  son,  wrote  plays  which  were  acted  in  the  long  gallery; 
Bufifon  discovered  new  beauties  in  the  lately  restored  gardens, 
and  such  notabilities  as  Voltaire,  Fontenelle,  the  Abbe  St. 
Pierre,  Montesquieu,  Lord  Bolingbroke,  and  Lord  Chesterfield 
made  up  the  brilliant  society  of  Mme.  Dupin’s  salon.  This 
amiable  and  clever  lady  was,  moreover,  held  in  such  universal 
esteem  that  even  when  the  Revolution  came  she  was  not  dis¬ 
turbed,  but,  old,  widowed,  and  childless,  was  allowed  to  finish 
her  days  at  Chenonceaux  in  peace.  She  died  there  in  1799  at 
the  age  of  ninety-three. 

The  rest  of  the  history  of  Chenonceaux  is  quickly  told.  The 
chateau  was  inherited  by  the  Count  of  Villeneuve,  a  great- 
nephew  of  Mme.  Dupin,  who  was  at  the  same  time  M.  Dupin’s 
great-grandson  by  a  former  wife.1  This  gentleman  married 
Mile.  Apolline  de  Guibert,  daughter  of  Count  de  Guibert,  famous 
as  the  author  of  Napoleon’s  favorite  treatise  on  tactics  and 
also  as  the  friend  of  Mile,  de  Lespinasse.  M.  de  Villeneuve  was 
made  chamberlain  to  the  King  of  Holland,  and  his  wife  was 
a  lady-in-waiting  to  Queen  Hortense.  They  kept  the  chateau 
in  good  repair,  and  Mme.  de  Villeneuve,  who  was  an  enthu¬ 
siastic  botanist,  restored  the  gardens  to  all  their  ancient  glory. 
After  them  came  M.  Pelouze,  son  of  the  well-known  chemist, 

1  Another  great-grandchild  of  M.  Dupin  who  sometimes  visited 
Chenonceaux  was  George  Sand. 

287 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

who  spent  so  much  money  on  alterations,  in  very  doubtful  taste, 
that  the  next  to  fall  heir  to  the  chateau  was  the  Credit  Fonder. 
Finally,  in  1891,  Chenonceaux  came  most  happily  into  the  pos¬ 
session  of  its  present  proprietor,  Mr.  Terry,  a  Cuban,  under 
whose  careful  and  thorough  restoration  the  building  of  Kath¬ 
erine  Briqonnet,  of  Diane  de  Poitiers,  and  of  Catherine  de 
Medicis  has  emerged  once  more  in  all  its  original  gaiety  and 
charm. 


288 


CHATEAU  OF 


CHENONCEAUX  WITH  GALLERY  ACROSS 
THE  CHER— ANOTHER  VIEW 


w 

tl 

I 

5 


W3,v 

3IiT 


AZAY-LE-RIDEAU 


■ 


;  icily 'Of 
' 


■ 

'iiaW-d  •  riO  OAHTAHO  OT  2 


t  j  .e  tower 


'  an  -ai  \w.  ,  r 

■  •  .  "iy  fringed,  ;».n«i  rrfi cauu:: 
chat  ean 

■ 

s 


'  riyM  a,  :!•  oi  il  ■ 

•  airelk:.  i  '  ■ .  -  ;  (  V :  i:  e  )  ...  ai!e 

■  '  V  ivl-  "  :  I  '  h;  :  etlCl  J  !  i  1C5  .  gt 


MAIN  ENTRANCE  TO  CHATEAU  OF  AZAY-LE-RIDEAU 


CHAPTER  XI 


AZAY-LE-RIDEAU 


QUITE  in  an  opposite  direction  from  Tours  to  that  of 
Chenonceaux  is  another  chateau  belonging  to  the 
same  class  and  period,  which  likewise  owes  its 
existence  to  one  of  that  family  of  financiers  of 
which  Thomas  Bohier  was  a  member. 

Azay-le-Rideau  stands  on  the  banks  of  the  Indre  in  the  midst 
of  a  level  park  planted  with  groves  of  fine  old  trees  and  bril¬ 
liant  flower-beds,  and  with  a  system  of  artificial  waterways 
sometimes  confined  within  the  limits  of  the  moat,  sometimes 
spreading  out  into  wide,  still  ponds,  lily-fringed,  and  reflecting 
the  towers  and  pinnacles  of  the  chateau. 

The  entrance  to  the  grounds  is  by  a  mellow  Renaissance 
gateway,  beyond  which  a  broad  sweep  of  carriage-drive 
bordered  with  lemon  and  orange-trees  in  tubs  leads  to 
the  moat  and  drawbridge;  then  comes  a  raised  terrace,  on  two 
sides  of  which  rises  the  main  building,  large  and  nearly  square, 
with  a  single  wing  at  right  angles ;  at  every  corner  of  the  build¬ 
ing  is  a  corbelled  tourelle.  The  ornamentation  of  the  faqade 
is  a  marvel  of  richness  and  simple  elegance;  twin  doors  sur¬ 
mounted  by  three  pairs  of  windows  form  the  general  design 
of  the  portal,  and  above  the  doors  and  below  the  dormers  are 


26 


295 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

the  salamander  of  Francis  I  and  the  ermine  of  Claude  of 
France,1  with  their  mottoes,  Nutrisco  ct  extinguo  and  Ung  seul 
desir.- 

In  the  summer  of  1418  the  Dauphin,  afterwards  Charles  VII, 
was  rallying  the  scattered  Armagnacs2  and  endeavoring  to 
chase  the  Burgundians  out  of  his  own  province  of  Touraine. 
One  day  in  June  as  he  was  marching  his  men  past  Azay-le- 
Rideau  along  the  highroad  leading  from  Chinon  to  Tours,  the 
party  was  espied  from  the  chateau  by  a  Burgundian  garrison 
then  in  possession,  who  called  out  gibingly:  “There  go  the 
leavings  of  the  little  Paris  pates!”  in  playful  allusion  to  a  hor¬ 
rible  massacre  of  Armagnacs  that  had  recently  occurred  at 
Paris.  The  Dauphin’s  troops  were  so  enraged  by  the  taunt 
that  they  instantly  flung  themselves  upon  the  place  and  carried 
it  by  assault.  The  Governor  was  beheaded  and  the  garrison, 
to  the  number  of  three  hundred  and  fifty,  were  hanged  from 
the  battlements.  In  the  course  of  the  fight  the  attacking  party 
set  fire  to  some  outlying  buildings,  the  flames  spread  and  the 
town  was  so  nearly  destroyed  that  from  then  to  the  end  of  the 
XVIth  century  it  figures  even  in  official  documents  as  Azay-le- 
Brnle.  Some  twenty-five  years  later,  in  dread  of  the  English 
on  the  one  hand  and  of  the  Praguerie3  on  the  other,  the  remnant 
of  the  inhabitants  petitioned  the  King  to  allow  them  to  put 
up  a  wall  of  defence;  they  urged  that  “the  town  had  already 
been  so  utterly  ruined  by  fire  in  a  time  of  war  that  few 
habitations  were  left  and  most  of  its  people  had  gone  else¬ 
where  to  live,  leaving  the  said  town  almost  deserted  and  without 
revenues.”  After  getting  their  walls,  however,  the  townspeople 

1  Claude  of  France  was  a  daughter  of  her  mother  and  adopted  the  ermine  as  her 
Louis  XII  and  Anne  of  Brittany.  She  device, 
inherited  the  Duchy  of  Brittany  from  *  See  p.  122. 

296 


3  See  p.  102. 


CHATEAU  OF  AZAY-LE-RIDEAU,  WEST  FACADE 


. 


AZAY-LE-RIDEAU 

became  so  stiff-necked  that  they  declined  to  bear  their  part  in 
the  defence  of  the  castle,  and  even  refused  to  give  up  their 
brand-new  keys  upon  the  summons  of  their  lawful  chatelaine, 
the  noble  et  puissanie  damoiselle,  Catherine  du  Puy  de  Fou, 
who  had  to  take  legal  proceedings  before  the  men  of  Azay-le- 
R ideau  could  be  made  to  yield.  The  fortifications  were  not 
completed  till  the  following  reign,  when  Louis  XI  gave  the 
completed  permission  to  tax  themselves  for  the  purpose. 

“The  history  of  Azay-le-Rideau  is  the  history  of  all  the  small 
towns  of  this  district  in  the  XVth  and  XVI th  centuries.  Dread 
of  the  English,  dread  of  the  undisciplined  forces  of  the  various 
political  factions  and  later  of  the  different  religious  bodies, 
drove  the  inhabitants  to  build  walls  of  defence,  and,  by  them¬ 
selves  taking  measures  for  their  own  security,  to  depend  less 
and  less  upon  either  king  or  seigneur.  The  crown,  whose  policy 
it  was  to  multiply  these  points  of  resistance,  encouraged 
them,  while  the  nobles  sometimes  helped,  sometimes  retarded 
the  movement ;  but  all  the  time  the  self-imposed  levies  and  taxes 
and  the  necessity  for  common  action  and  mutual  support  were 
slowly  paving  the  way  for  the  communal  life  of  a  later  age.”1 

About  the  year  1450  the  chateau  was  bought  by  a  rich  bour¬ 
geois  of  Tours  named  Bertholet.  One  of  his  daughters  married 
Jean  Brigonnet,  afterwards  Cardinal  St.  Malo,  and  another 
married  Jacques  de  Beaune-Semblengay,  while  a  daughter  of 
the  first,  Katherine  Brigonnet,  became  the  wife  of  Thomas 
Bohier  of  Chenonceaux.  Thanks  to  these  family  connections, 
Gilles  Bertholet,  a  grandson  of  the  purchaser  of  Azay-le-Rideau, 
obtained  a  succession  of  important  posts;  he  was  may m  of 
Tours  and  became  eventually  one  of  the  four  generaux  des 
finances  of  France.  As  in  the  case  of  his  cousin’s  husband, 

1  Bulletin  of  the  Archaeological  Society  of  Touraine. 

299 


THE  CHATEAUX  OE  TOURAINE 

Thomas  Bohier,  these  were  no  barren  honors;  Gilles  Bertholet 
made  a  large  fortune,  some  of  which  he  happily  expended  in 
rebuilding  the  old  castle  of  Azay-le-Rideau  in  the  lovely  form 
in  which  we  see  it  to-day.  As  at  Chenonceaux,  however, 
the  fall  of  the  Semblencay  administration  came  before  the 
work  was  quite  finished.  Jacques  de  Beaune-Semblenqay  had 
been  placed  by  Francis  I,  in  1518,  in  complete  control  of  the 
finances  of  France,  and  he  had  the  management  not  only  of 
the  King’s  revenues,  but  also  of  those  of  “Madame,”  Louise 
of  Savoy,  Francis’s  mother.  Extraordinary  sums  of  money 
were  required  for  the  war  in  Italy,  and  Seinblengay  resorted 
to  extraordinary  expedients  to  raise  them;  the  finances  of  the 
kingdom  became  terribly  involved,  the  deficit  increased  year 
by  year,  and  still  the  King  and  Madame  cried,  “More!  more!” 
Finally  Semblengay  reached  the  end  of  his  resources;  then  he 
was  seized  and  thrown  into  prison  on  a  charge  of  falsifying 
the  accounts  of  Madame  and  of  having  loaned  money  to  the 
Crown  from  his  own  banking-house  at  an  exorbitant  rate  of 
interest.  He  was  tried,  found  guilty  of  “irregularities”  in  his 
accounts,  and  hanged  at  Montfaucon  nth  August,  15 27. 

Gilles  Bertholet,  taking  warning  by  his  chief’s  fall,  had  al¬ 
ready  fled  to  Germany,  where  he  died  in  exile;  his  property  was 
confiscated  and  Azay-le-Rideau  passed  into  possession  of  one 
Antoine  Raffin,  a  captain  of  the  Royal  Guard. 

A  reminder  of  the  Bertholets  exists  in  the  carved  G  and  P 
seen  below  the  eaves  at  the  east  end  of  the  chateau — the  initial 
letters  of  Gilles  Bertholet  and  his  wife,  Philippe  Lesbahy.  The 
vacant  squares  between  them  once  held  the  letters  B  and  L, 
but,  according  to  local  tradition,  the  latter  pair  was  removed 
by  Antoine  Raffin  with  the  idea  of  pleasing  the  King  when 
on  one  occasion  he  was  expected  at  Azay-le-Rideau. 

300 


CHATEAU  OF  AZAY-LE-RIDEAU :  SHOWING  THE  MOAT 


. 


■ 

•The  main-  points  of  interest  in  the"  interior 
.  stairway  and  some  chimney-pieces 

the  historic  \  ■ 

. 

cupied  at  differ  •  ■;  b 

Louis  XIV,  but;,  the  famous  collection  of  portraits  that  once 
hung  there  alas!  the  way  of  the  h  \  In  1901 

the  Marquis  de  Biencourt,  whose  family  had  owned  the  chateau  v 
for  something  over  a  hundred  years,  sold  the  property;  the  pH: 
tm>  h.a  valuable  collection  of  old  furniture 

:  !  id  dispersed  at  auction. 

Xhtf;  /.eotury,  but  it  has  been  poorly  restored,  and,  except  for 

. 

without  intent 

Rideau;  it  ttt  on  the  score  of  it  exquisite  beauty, 

together  .  1  ./*.  n  the  history  of  French*  architecture 

“Azay-le-Rkteau,  Chenonceaux,  the  chateau  of  Loches,  Am- 
boise  and  Blois,”  says  Viollet-le-Duc,  “are  among  the  most 
brilliant  expressions  of  the  French  Renaissance,  the  most  strik- 
1  ing  examples  of  the  application  of  our  ancient  national  art.” 


305 


SIDE  ENTRANCE  TO  THE  CHATEAU  OF  AZAY-LE-RIDEAU 


AZAY-LE-R1DEAU 

The  main  points  of  interest  in  the  interior  are  a  splendid 
stairway  and  some  fine  carved  chimney-pieces.  There  are  also 
the  historic  rooms,  that  in  which  Napoleon  spent  a  night  on 
his  return  from  the  Peninsular  campaign,  and  another,  oc¬ 
cupied  at  different  times  by  Francis  I,  by  Louis  XIII,  and  by 
Louis  XIV,  but  the  famous  collection  of  portraits  that  once 
hung  there  has  gone,  alas!  the  way  of  the  hammer.  In  1901 
the  Marquis  de  Biencourt,  whose  family  had  owned  the  chateau 
for  something  over  a  hundred  years,  sold  the  property ;  the  pic¬ 
tures,  together  with  a  valuable  collection  of  old  furniture,  were 
sent  to  Paris  and  dispersed  at  auction. 

The  church  standing  in  the  grounds  dates  in  part  from  the 
Xllth  century,  but  it  has  been  poorly  restored,  and,  except  for 
the  graceful  doorway  leading  into  the  seigneurial  chapel,  is 
without  interest. 

No  great  historical  events  have  ever  taken  place  at  Azay-le- 
Rideau;  it  attracts  solely  on  the  score  of  its  exquisite  beauty, 
together  with  its  place  in  the  history  of  French  architecture. 

“Azay-le-Rideau,  Chenonceaux,  the  chateau  of  Loches,  Am- 
boise  and  Blois,”  says  Viollet-le-Duc,  “are  among  the  most 
brilliant  expressions  of  the  French  Renaissance,  the  most  strik¬ 
ing  examples  of  the  application  of  our  ancient  national  art.” 


305 


CHAUMONT 


CHAPTER  XII 


CHAUMONT 

THE  chateau  of  Chaumont  lies  on  the  route  between 
Tours  and  Blois,  that  is  to  say,  it  lies  off  the  route,  and 
the  traveller  must  alight  at  a  little  station  called 
Onzain,  cross  the  Loire,  and  follow  up  the  left  bank  for  some 
distance  (about  a  mile  in  all  from  the  station)  before  arriving 
at  the  park  gates.  Here  he  is  required  to  leave  his  vehicle  and 
proceed  the  rest  of  the  way  on  foot. 

The  grounds,  which  appear  to  be  both  beautiful  and  well 
kept,  are  not  open  to  the  public,  and  at  ever)'-  footpath  signs 
warn  the  too  enquiring  stranger  that  he  must  keep  to  the  car¬ 
riage  drive  and  stray  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left.  The 
road,  hemmed  in  on  either  side  by  steep  banks,  ascends  steadily 
from  the  park  gates,  and  after  making  a  wide  curve  comes  out 
on  a  sunny  level  space  gay  with  beds  of  geraniums  and  scarlet 
sage.  On  the  right  stands  the  chateau,  occupying  the  western 
extremity  of  the  plateau  and  protected  on  this  side  by  a  deep 
moat. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  Xth  century  this  tract  of  high  level 
ground  was  known  as  the  “Garenne  de  la  Comtesse,”  and  on 
it  Eudes  I,  Count  of  Blois,  son  of  Thibaud  le  Tricheur,1  built 

1See  p.  ii 2. 


27 


309 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

a  strong  tower.  Who  the  “Comtesse”  was,  or  how  the  Count 
of  Blois  came  to  build  his  keep  upon  her  warren,  are  questions 
to  which  at  this  day  no  answers  are  forthcoming. 

The  next  Count  gave  the  tower  and  domain  of  Chaumont 
to  his  follower,  the  sieur  of  Fontlevoy,  a  collateral  descendant 
of  whom,  Sulpice  II,  of  Amboise,  inherited  it  and  the  neigh¬ 
boring  chateau  of  Amboise  as  well  in  1129,  thus  becoming  the 
vassal  at  once  of  the  Count  of  Blois  and  of  the  latter’s  hereditary 
enemy,  the  Count  of  Anjou. 

Egged  on  by  the  Count  of  Anjou  (Henry  II,  of  England) 
Sulpice  defied  his  suzerain  of  Blois,  incited  others  of  the  neigh¬ 
boring  barons  to  do  the  same,  and  with  them  for  a  term  of  years 
he  led  the  joyous  and  inconsequent  life  of  a  robber  chief.  They 
swept  forth  from  Chaumont  on  wild  forays,  terrorized  the  sur¬ 
rounding  country,  and  held  high  revel  in  the  gloomy  old  keep. 
But  all  things  have  an  end,  and  this  career  of  gaiety  and  excite¬ 
ment  was  brought  to  a  sudden  stop  when  Thibaud  V,  Count  of 
Blois,  captured  his  rebellious  vassal  together  with  his  two  sons 
and  threw  them  into  his  strong  donjon  of  Chateaudun.  After 
enduring  tortures  indescribable,  Sulpice  died  here  in  1154,  but 
some  years  later  one  of  his  sons  recovered  the  family  estates, 
and  Chaumont  remained  with  his  descendants,  though  not  in 
the  direct  line,  till  1550,  when  Catherine  de  Medicis  bought  it 
from  the  heirs. 

In  the  time  of  Louis  XI,  the  chief  of  the  family  of  Chaumont- 
Amboise  had  been  Pierre  d’Amboise,  Sieur  de  Chaumont.  He 
joined  the  Ligue  dn  Bien  Public 1  in  1465  and  was  punished  by 
having  his  chateau  razed  to  the  ground.  Later  the  King  re¬ 
lented  and  allowed  Pierre’s  son,  Charles,  successively  Council- 

1  A  plot  forrred  in  1464  by  the  great  feudatory  lords  to  depose  Louis  XI  and 
to  place  his  brother,  Charles,  Duke  of  Berry,  on  the  throne. 

310 


CHAU MON f 


lor,  Chamberlain,  arid  Governor  ;  ^  '  r  ,r  . 

at  the  expensi 

he  did  it  as  can  be  si  da 

'  By  the  latter  pari  o  ;lu  Vth  century  the  day  i  feudal  an 

tecture  was  over :  wt  h 

and  at  Loches.  Yet  t  It  bo  rn  in 

of  conservative  tastes,  !  •,  v.  a 

istics  of  the  feudal  ;  ^  s  •  •  ' 

moat  and  draw-brkip  -  dw  marl1-.  >;aijons 

and  battlements ;  the  .  ■  \  loft)  latent  •. 

ing  the  Loire  on  the  harply  a 

both  ends  of  the  chat 

The  moat  is  spanned  by  a  draw-bridge  dank  d  by  two  round 
r  v it h  pointed  r*s,  and  besidt  portal  an  t  > 

smaller  towers  ada, u  ably  carved  with  ,  interlaced  (  s, 

**  u/;aTAir?berlam- *nd 

noes  in  erupt  a  as  a  play  upon  v  aumont  (ckaud 

wont).  Above  the  portal  is  the  shield  d  the  house  of  Amboisi 
between  the  letters  XII,  and  Anne  erf  Brit¬ 

tany,  and  the  latter’s  device  of  the  cord  and  tassel.  O  tie  r 

■ 

,h  v  a  window  on  the  oposite  wall  hi  Cardinal's  in  ed. 

• 

court.  Around  three  sides  run  t  buildings  of  the  *.  i  u  and 
on  the  fourth  is  a  wide  terrace,  looking  down  from  wh  , ;  >  «  you 
realize  for  the  first  time  the  strength  of  the  position.  The 
rot  '  aids  sheer  to  what  seems  to  be  a  great  distance  and  the 
river  runs  so  dose  to  its  base  as  to  leave  room  only  for  a  narrow 
ttrip  of  land. 

■ 

313 


CHATEAU  OF  CHAUMONT:  ENTRANCE 


CHAUMONT 


lor,  Chamberlain,  and  Governor  of  rile  de  France,  to  rebuild  it 
at  the  expense  of  the  Crown,  and  very  handsomely  and  solidly 
he  did  it  as  can  be  seen  to  this  day. 

By  the  latter  part  of  the  XVth  century  the  day  of  feudal  archi¬ 
tecture  was  over:  we  have  seen  the  change  at  Plessis-les-Tours 
and  at  Loches.  Yet  Charles  d’Amboise  must  have  been  a  man 
of  conservative  tastes,  for  Chaumont  preserves  all  the  character¬ 
istics  of  the  feudal  fortress;  the  enormously  thick  walls,  the 
moat  and  draw-bridge,  the  massive  towers,  the  machicolations 
and  battlements ;  the  whole  rising  from  a  lofty  plateau  overlook¬ 
ing  the  Loire  on  the  one  hand  and  falling  sharply  away  from 
both  ends  of  the  chateau. 

The  moat  is  spanned  by  a  draw-bridge  flanked  by  two  round 
towers  with  pointed  roofs,  and  beside  the  main  portal  are  two 
smaller  towers  admirably  carved  with  large  interlaced  C’s, 
standing  for  the  two  Charleses  d’Amboise,  the  Chamberlain,  and 
the  Grand  Master  who  finished  the  chateau;  and  with  volca¬ 
noes  in  eruption,  as  a  play  upon  the  name  Chaumont  ( chaud 
mont).  Above  the  portal  is  the  shield  of  the  house  of  Amboise 
between  the  letters  L  and  A,  for  Louis  XII,  and  Anne  of  Brit¬ 
tany,  and  the  latter’s  device  of  the  cord  and  tassel.  On  the  right 
are  the  arms  of  Georges  d’Amboise,  brother  of  Charles,  and 
over  a  window  on  the  oposite  wall  his  Cardinal’s  hat  is  carved. 

A  vaulted  passage-way  leads  from  the  draw-bridge  to  an  open 
court.  Around  three  sides  run  the  buildings  of  the  chateau  and 
on  the  fourth  is  a  wide  terrace,  looking  down  from  whence  you 
realize  for  the  first  time  the  strength  of  the  position.  The 
rock  descends  sheer  to  what  seems  to  be  a  great  distance  and  the 
river  runs  so  close  to  its  base  as  to  leave  room  only  for  a  narrow 
strip  of  land. 

The  two  most  striking  objects  in  the  court  are  a  dark  cedar  of 

313 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURA1NE 


Lebanon,  whose  horizontal  branches,  stirred  by  the  west  wind, 
knock  and  beat  against  the  chapel  walls,  and  a  carved  stone  well 
of  fine  workmanship  surmounted  by  some  ornamental  wrought- 
iron  work.  On  the  south  are  the  private  apartments,  and  across 
the  lower  end  is  an  arcaded  gallery,  from  whence  a  spiral  stair 
leads  to  the  historic  rooms  on  the  north. 

Pierre  d’Amboise,  the  father  of  the  builder  of  Chaumont,  had 
seventeen  children;  the  eldest  was  Charles,  the  Chamberlain, 
and  the  most  famous  was  the  Cardinal,  Georges,  who,  indeed, 
was  a  very  great  personage,  and  in  a  sense  the  precursor  of 
those  other  Cardinal-Ministers  of  the  next  Louis’s  reign. 

Georges  d’Amboise  was  made  Archbishop  of  Rouen  at  thirty- 
eight,  later  he  became  Cardinal  and  then  Legate ;  but  his  great 
sphere  lay  in  the  influence  he  exercised  over  Louis  XII.  He 
had  been  that  Prince’s  trusted  friend  and  confidant  when,  as 
Duke  of  Orleans,  he  had  engaged  in  more  than  one  hazardous 
plot ;  then,  when  the  Duke  became  King,  d’Amboise  knew  how 
to  maintain  his  position.  Tact  he  must  certainly  have  pos¬ 
sessed,  for  when  Louis  and  his  chere  B retonne  quarrelled,  as 
not  infrequently  happened,  the  Cardinal  was  the  only  person 
who  could  make  the  Queen  listen  to  reason  or  argue  the  King 
back  into  a  good  humor.  No  wonder  Louis  had  a  high  opinion 
of  his  Chancellor’s  ability;  a  man  who  interferes  between  hus¬ 
band  and  wife  and  is  not  detested  by  both  can  safely  be  trusted 
to  handle  the  most  delicate  afifairs,  and  laissez  faire  a  Georges 
came  to  be  the  King’s  solution  for  most  troublesome  questions. 

Georges,  as  has  been  said,  was  one  of  a  huge  family.  He 
placed  most  of  his  relatives  in  good  positions  and  especially  ad¬ 
vanced  his  nephew  Charles,  the  finisher  of  Chaumont,  whom  he 
made  Grand  Master  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  Brantome,  the 
historian,  says  that  Charles  d’Amboise  was  entirely  governed 

3H 


by  his  uncle,  tla  ina 

•  from  him  ail*'  n  t  fes  ,  ren 

news  came  of 
pleasure  in  l:i 

■ 

Georges  ■  •  •  ,  n-  - 

was  never  reahz<  •  had  fixed  h  :  the  Papac  ' 

and,  it  was  said  e  got  it  h  J  a  little  ; 

confident  At  .  ni  when  A!  .  {l  >■ 

Rome  was  pract  :  t  he  mercy  of  the  r  :1  ro  >p  These 

the  Cardinal 

their  presence  .'■<  n  i.mpro:  dt  ;  G  ■  n.e 

■ 

Pin  Hd  1  i-  pe  only  sun  i  d  1 

;  ^  ■  l  '  H  ■  , 

Was  chose  i  ■  ,  ■  TWd  3HT  TA 

Cardin  >  >  af¬ 
fection  and  confidence  t  he  i  st,  and  his  "  •  be¬ 

fore  fi  >!  ‘  cn  him  to  the  grave,  t  « r . 

BttdhilMtns.in  the  cathedral  » 

1  u  i  550  Chaumorit  was 
bf*i>e she  had  married  a  s)  ’<  t., 

thir  V  husband,  and  ! ...  . 

Catherine  de  Med  ids,  tr 
'■t-i  y  •  t  Chare  o  t ;  . 

the  ree ■ 

1  ha. 


APPROACH  TO  THE  CHATEAU  OF  CHAUMONT:  THE  LOIRE 

AT  THE  LEFT 


CHAUMONT 


by  his  uncle,  the  Cardinal,  that  he  received  all  his  instructions 
from  him  and  obeyed  them  to  the  letter,  and  he  adds  that  when 
news  came  of  the  Cardinal’s  death,  his  nephew  had  no  more 
pleasure  in  life  and  presently  died  too,  of  sorrow.  Charles’s 
death  did,  indeed,  follow  close  after  the  Cardinal’s,  but  whether 
from  grief  or  from  poison,  as  some  thought,  is  not  known. 

Georges  d’Amboise  had,  however,  one  darling  ambition  that 
was  never  realized.  He  had  fixed  his  hopes  upon  the  Papacy 
and,  it  was  said,  might  have  got  it  had  he  only  been  a  little  less 
confident.  At  the  moment  when  Alexander  VI  died  (1503) 
Rome  was  practically  at  the  mercy  of  the  French  troops.  These 
the  Cardinal  was  induced  to  withdraw  on  the  pretence  that 
their  presence  might  give  an  impression  of  coercion  in  the  mat¬ 
ter  of  his  election;  but,  no  sooner  had  the  troops  left  than  the 
crafty  Italians,  who  had  given  the  advice,  promptly  elected 
Pius  III.  The  new  Pope  only  survived  four  weeks,  but  then  it 
was  too  late,  the  opportunity  had  gone  by  forever,  and  Julius  II 
was  chosen  to  succeed  him. 

Cardinal  d’Amboise  died  in  1510,  preserving  the  King’s  af¬ 
fection  and  confidence  to  the  last,  and  his  nephew  had  time,  be¬ 
fore  following  him  to  the  grave,  to  erect  a  magnificent  tomb  over 
his  remains  in  the  cathedral  church  of  his  see  at  Rouen. 

In  1550  Chaumont  was  the  property  of  an  Antoinette  d’Am¬ 
boise  ;  she  had  married  a  spendthrift,  Louis  de  Luxembourg,  for 
her  third  husband,  and  her  children  by  her  second  marriage 
and  heirs  agreed  with  her  to  sell  Chaumont  to  the  Queen. 

Catherine  de  Medicis,  the  new  proprietor,  made  frequent 
stays  at  Chaumont;  she  fitted  up  a  room  in  the  donjon  for  her 
favorite  astrologer,  the  Italian,  Cosimo  Ruggieri,  and  here,  in 
the  autumn  of  1559,  she  came  in  great  trouble  to  consult  him. 

Henry  II  had  died  some  months  before  (10th  July,  1559), 

317 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


and  at  first  it  looked  as  though  that  event  would  certainly  bring 
her  relief  from  the  mortifying  position  she  had  always  held 
during  her  husband’s  lifetime.  With  Francis  II,  King,  feeble 
both  in  body  and  mind,  and  hitherto  wholly  under  her  control, 
the  Queen-mother  thought  that  surely  her  troubles  were  at  an 
end,  instead  of  which  the  Guises  promptly  rose  up  to  harass  her. 
They  were  uncles  to  the  young  Queen,  Mary  Stuart,  her 
mother’s  brothers,  and  this  beautiful  and  winning  and  highly 
gifted  young  wife  easily  induced  her  husband  to  put  himself  en¬ 
tirely  in  their  hands  rather  than  in  those  of  his  mother.  This 
was  troublesome,  but  worse  still,  the  King,  hardly  recovered 
from  one  severe  illness,  was  now  attacked  by  a  strange  and  hor¬ 
rible  disease.  Mysterious  fires  shone  from  his  glassy  eyes, 
his  face  was  livid  and  covered  with  sores,  and  he  steadily  lost 
strength.  In  this  extremity  Catherine  could  think  of  no  better 
expedient  than  to  consult  Ruggieri’s  arts,  and  she  came  to  Chau- 
mont  for  that  purpose. 

The  short  October  day  was  drawing  to  a  close  when  the 
Queen-mother  entered  Ruggieri’s  room,  situated  in  the  donjon 
at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  pile.  Through  small  windows 
cut  in  walls  of  enormous  thickness,  the  red  evening  light  entered 
with  difficulty,  showing  vaguely  the  outlines  of  the  astrologer’s 
mysterious  paraphernalia,  skins  of  dead  animals,  bones,  foreign- 
looking  instruments,  minerals  and  drugs,  parchments  and  maps 
of  the  heavens,  all  scattered  about  in  studied  confusion. 

The  Queen  first  demanded  to  be  shown  the  horoscopes  of 
her  four  sons,  but  the  result  filled  her  with  dismay.  They  were 
all,  it  appeared,  to  wear  royal  crowns  (the  Duke  d’Alenqon  did 
not,  however),  yet  all  were  to  die  young  and  childless,  and  two 
of  violent  deaths.  Horrified,  the  mother  asked  for  some  other 
sign  by  which  these  fearful  prognostications  might  be  tested. 

3>s 


. 


CHAUMONT 


The  astrologer  then  led  her  to  a  mirror,  in  which,  he  said,  she 
would  see  reflected  the  future  kings  of  France;  each  would 
make  as  many  turns  as  the  number  of  years  he  was  destined 
to  reign. 

Catherine  waited  anxiously,  and  presently  a  languid,  melan¬ 
choly  figure  drifted  across  the  mirror’s  surface;  she  recognized 
her  son  Francis  and  held  her  breath.  Slowly  he  began  to  turn 
himself  about,  but  before  he  had  completed  an  entire  circle  he 
faded  out  of  sight  and  the  Queen  knew  that  her  first-born 
would  die  before  the  year  was  out.  Next  came  Charles  IX; 
he  solemnly  gyrated  thirteen  and  a  half  times,  then  disap¬ 
peared.  After  him  Henry  III  took  fifteen  turns  and  followed 
his  brothers.  Then  Henry  of  Navarre  entre  sur  la  carriere, 
gaillard  et  dispost;  he  made  twenty  complete  circuits  and  was 
briskly  engaging  upon  the  twenty-first  when  he  suddenly  van¬ 
ished.  Finally  there  came  a  little  Prince,  but  eight  or  nine 
years  old,  who  solemnly  whirled  and  whirled,  till,  having  com¬ 
pleted  thirty  revolutions,  and  having  apparently  no  intention 
of  stopping,  the  unhappy  Queen-mother  declared  she  had  seen 
enough,  and  instantly  the  mirror  became  a  blank.  Such,  at 
all  events,  is  the  account  of  the  adventure  given  by  a  contem¬ 
porary.1 

Adjoining  Ruggieri’s  room  is  Catherine’s  own  apartment, 
furnished  with  ancient  tapestries  and  the  bed  and  toilet-table 
and  prie-dieu  of  the  Queen,  and  on  the  last  her  livre  d’heures, 
lying,  as  though  she  had  but  just  passed  out  from  her  devotions. 

Shortly  after  the  experience  described  above  Catherine  parted 
with  Chaumont  to  her  rival,  Diane  de  Poitiers.  It  was  not, 
however,  an  act  of  grace.  The  beautiful  Diane,  as  has  been 
seen,  was  living  at  the  time  quite  happily  at  Chenonceaux,2 

1  Nicolas,  son  of  Etienne  Pasquier,  a  member  of  the  States  General  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  III.  2  See  p.  274. 

32  1 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

devoting  herself  to  horticulture,  and  desired  nothing  less  than 
to  leave  it  for  Chaumont,  but  she  was  not  given  her  choice. 
Although  she  came  there  but  seldom,  spending  most  of  her  time 
at  her  two  estates  of  Limours  and  Anet,  her  room  at  Chaumont 
is  still  shown,  furnished  throughout  in  black  and  white,  the 
half-mourning  she  always  affected  after  the  death  of  her  hus¬ 
band,  the  Seneschal.  When  Diane  died  the  estate  passed  to  her 
daughter,  Frangoise,  Duchess  of  Bouillon. 

After  changing  hands  several  times  Chaumont  was  sold  in 
1594  to  Scipion  Sardini,  who  had  come  a  penniless  adventurer 
to  seek  his  fortune  in  France,  and,  under  the  protection  of  the 
Queen-mother,  had  quickly  found  it.  Fie  contrived  to  make  him¬ 
self  indispensable  to  Henry  III,  and  later  on  married  the  beauti¬ 
ful  Isabelle  de  la  Tour-Limeuil,  one  of  Catherine’s  gay  maids  of 
honor.  Chaumont  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  descendants 
of  this  pair  until  1699,  when  it  was  bought  by  Paul,  Duke  of 
Beauvillier,  governor  to  the  royal  Princess  in  the  time  of  Louis 
XIV,  and  a  great  favorite  with  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

During  the  XVIIIth  century  Chaumont  was  sold  and  resold, 
but  among  its  various  proprietors  one  at  least,  Bertin 
de  Vaugien,  has  left  a  lasting  memorial  of  himself  and  of  his 
ownership.  The  original  chateau  of  the  d'Amboises  had  con¬ 
sisted  of  four  wings  built  around  a  court;  de  Vaugien  pulled 
down  the  entire  west  wing  and  in  its  place  constructed  that 
terrace  which,  commanding  as  it  does  one  of  the  fairest  views 
in  all  the  valley  of  the  Loire,  adds  so  immeasurable  a  charm 
to  the  chateau. 

The  next  proprietor  was  Jacques  Donatien  Le  Ray,  who 
bought  Chaumont  in  1750  and  tried  to  turn  the  estate 
to  account  by  establishing  a  terra  cotta  manufactory  in  the 
grounds.  Financially  the  enterprise  was  not  a  success,  but 

322 


CHAUMONT 

some  interesting  survivals  of  it  remain  in  a  series  of  beauti¬ 
fully  executed  terra  cotta  medallions  by  an  Italian  named  Nini, 
which  are  preserved  in  the  chateau.  Among  the  likenesses  of 
famous  XVIIIth  century  belles  and  gallants  it  is  amusing 
suddenly  to  be  confronted  with  the  benevolent  features  and 
flowing  locks  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  Le  Ray-Chaumont,  as 
he  styled  himself,  was,  in  fact,  a  personal  friend  of  Franklin, 
and  immensely  interested  in  the  American  struggle  for  inde¬ 
pendence.  Unfortunately  he  hazarded  most  of  his  fortune  in 
some  colonization  scheme  that  turned  out  badly.  His  son  went 
to  America  to  see  if  anything  could  be  done,  and  while  there, 
though  failing  to  rescue  his  patrimony,  he  got  himself  a  wife.1 
Meanwhile,  however,  his  chateau  was  not  deserted. 

Madame  de  Stael,  ordered  by  Napoleon  to  keep  at  forty 
leagues’  distance  from  Paris,  was  casting  about  in  the  summer 
of  1810  for  some  convenient  spot  from  which  to  superintend 
the  publication  of  her  work  on  Germany,  then  passing  through 
the  press.  Her  choice  fell  upon  Chaumont,  and  there,  with 
her  family,  her  children’s  tutors,  and  as  many  of  her  friends 
as  could  be  induced  to  brave  the  possible  displeasure  of  the 
Emperor,  she  established  herself  in  the  absence  of  the  owner. 

Augustus,  Baron  de  Stael-Holstein,  in  the  notes  to  his 
mother’s  “Ten  Years  of  Exile,”  says  of  this  incident :  “The  pres¬ 
ent  proprietor  of  this  romantic  residence,  M.  Le  Ray,  with 
whom  my  parents  were  connected  by  the  ties  of  friendship 
and  business,  was  then  in  America.  Just  at  the  time  we  were 
occupying  his  chateau  he  returned  from  the  United  States  with 
his  family,  and  though  he  was  very  urgent  in  wishing  us  to 
remain  in  his  house,  the  more  he  pressed  us  politely  to  do  so, 
the  more  anxiety  we  felt  lest  we  should  incommode  him.” 


28 


1  He  married  a  lady  belonging  to  the  New  Jersey  family  of  Grant  Coxe. 

323 


THE  CHATEAUX  OE  TOURA1NE 


Fortunately  a  friend  came  to  the  rescue  with  an  offer  of  a 
neighboring  farm-house  called  Fosse,  and  thither  the  whole 
party  removed. 

“This  house,”  writes  Madame  de  Stael  in  her  Memoirs, 
“was  occupied  by  a  Vendean  soldier  who  certainly  did  not  keep 
it  in  the  nicest  order,  but  who  had  a  loyal  good-nature  that 
made  everything  easy,  and  an  originality  of  character  that 
was  very  amusing.  .  .  I  had  always  the  intention  of  repairing 
to  England  by  way  of  America,  but  I  was  anxious  to  terminate 
my  work  on  Germany.  The  season  was  advancing;  we  were 
already  at  the  15th  of  September,  and  I  began  to  foresee  that 
the  difficulty  of  embarking  my  daughter  with  me  would  detain 
me  another  winter  in  some  town,  I  knew  not  where,  at  40 
leagues  from  Paris . 

On  the  23d  of  September  Mine,  de  Stael  corrected  the  last 
proofs  of  “Germany,”  a  work  of  which  she  entertained  the  very 
highest  hopes;  her  publishers  informed  her  that  it  had  been 
passed  by  the  censor,  and  in  a  very  happy  frame  of  mind  she 
set  out  with  some  of  ner  friends  on  a  little  excursion  in  the 
neighborhood.  The  party  managed  to  lose  their  way  and  were 
gone  two  nights;  on  her  return  Mine,  de  Stael  was  met  with 
the  news  that  the  entire  edition  of  her  book  had  been  seized 
and  that  she  herself  was  ordered  to  quit  France  within  three 
days.  No  reason  was  given  for  this  harsh  treatment  beyond 
some  vague  allusions  to  the  “line  of  conduct  you  have  con¬ 
stantly  pursued  for  several  years  past.”  It  was  understood, 
however,  that  the  offence  lay  in  there  being  no  allusion  to 
either  the  Emperor  or  the  army  in  the  book.  She  abandoned 
her  plan  of  going  to  America,  and  returned  once  more  to  her 
exile  at  Coppet. 

In  1833  M.  Le  Ray  sold  Chaumont  to  Count  Sauvan  d’Ara- 

324 


CHATEAU  OF  CHAUMONT:  VIEW  FROM  THE  RIGHT  BANK 

OF  THE  LOIRE 


I 


. 

. 


. 


CHAUMONT 


mon.  He  and  his  wife,  and  later  the  latter’s  second  husband, 
Vicomte  Walsh,1  thoroughly  restored  the  chateau,  which  in 
1875  was  again  sold,  to  Mile.  Say,  now  the  Princesse  de  Broglie. 

These  latest  proprietors  have  finished  the  restoration,  added 
a  line  of  stables,  capable,  it  is  said,  of  housing  a  hundred  horses, 
and  have  given  to  the  historic  apartments  as  nearly  as  possible 
their  XVIth  century  aspect.  Ancient  tapestries  cover  the  walls, 
the  rooms  are  furnished  in  the  rich  and  elegant  fashion  of  “the 
epoch,”  and  in  the  chapel,  at  one  side  of  the  altar,  hangs  the 
Cardinal’s  hat  of  Georges  d’Amboise.  All  is  stately,  well- 
ordered,  dignified.  You  have  the  impression  of  an  inhabited 
and  eminently  habitable  dwelling  in  which  the  historic  associa¬ 
tions  have  been  entirely  preserved. 


1  Edward,  fourth  Earl  Walsh,  great- 
grandson  of  Anthony  Vincent  Walsh, 
who  fitted  out  two  vessels  at  his  own  ex¬ 
pense,  on  one  of  which,  La  Doutelle,  he 


escorted  Prince  Charles  Edward  to  Scot¬ 
land  in  the  expedition  of  1745.  He  was 
created  Earl  Walsh  by  the  Chevalier  de 
St.  George. 


327 


CHAMBORD  AND  CHEVERNEY 


CHAPTER  XIII 


CHAMBORD  AND  (  l  EVERNEY 


t  A  HE  chateaux  of  Chambord  and  Cheverney  > 

of  them  near  a  railroad,  but  they  can  he 

. 

call  the  grande  ton rn 

After  crossing  the  Loire  the:  road  ran 

kmtm  ,iam; 

de  Stael  and  a  party  ot  friends  contrived 

there  one  autumn  evening .  They  were  rescued  some  time  after 

‘ 

. 

It  was  probably  Francis  I’s  j>;i 

* 

c  :  f  the  old  Counts  of  Blois  that  h  <i  to  the  House 

of  Qttt  and  eventually  to  the  Crown,  i  h  began  to  build 
in  ;  5 19,/ three,  years  after  his  accession,  ithstanding 

the  huge  sums  of  money  expended,  anc  the  e  iteen  hundred 
workmen  employed,  at  the  King’s  death,  tv  enty-eight  years 


1  See  p.  324. 


333 


EASTERN  FACADE  OF  THE  CHATEAU  OF  CHAMBORD 


CHAPTER  XIII 


CHAMBORD  AND  CHEVERNEY 

THE  chateaux  of  Chambord  and  Cheverney  are  neither 
of  them  near  a  railroad,  but  they  can  be  visited  from 
Blois,  in  the  course  of  a  single  drive,  what  the  cabmen 
call  the  grande  tournee. 

After  crossing  the  Loire  the  road  runs  for  miles  through 
a  perfectly  flat,  uninteresting  country,  as  uniform  and  sparsely 
inhabited,  apparently,  as  it  was  in  the  year  1810,  when  Madame 
de  Stael  and  a  party  of  friends  contrived  to  lose  themselves 
there  one  autumn  evening.1  They  were  rescued  some  time  after 
midnight  by  an  opportune  young  man  on  horseback,  who,  find¬ 
ing  them  driving  aimlessly  about  in  the  forest,  carried  them 
all  off  to  his  father’s  chateau  for  the  rest  of  the  night. 

It  was  probably  Francis  I’s  passion  for  hunting  that  made 
him  select  this  dreary  country  in  which  to  build  a  vast  chateau, 
taking  for  his  site  the  feudal  fortress  of  “Chambourg,”  a 
domain  of  the  old  Counts  of  Blois  that  had  passed  to  the  House 
of  Orleans  and  eventually  to  the  Crown.  He  began  to  build 
in  1519,  three  years  after  his  accession,  yet,  notwithstanding 
the  huge  sums  of  money  expended,  and  the  eighteen  hundred 
workmen  employed,  at  the  King’s  death,  twenty-eight  years 

1  See  p.  324. 


333 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 


later,  only  the  central  building  and  that  part  of  the  east  wing 
which  contains  his  own  suite  of  apartments  were  finished. 
Henry  II  added  another  wing,  but  after  his  time  there  was  no 
further  attempt  to  carry  out  the  original  plan,  and  to  this  day 
Chambord,  enormous  as  it  is,  remains  uncompleted. 

The  chateau  stands  on  the  banks  of  the  little  river  Cosson 
and  in  the  midst  of  a  park  twenty  square  miles  in  area.  It  is 
approached  by  long,  level  roads,  cut  through  the  underbrush 
and  waste  of  stunted  trees  which  since  1821  have  replaced  the 
ancient  forest,  and  their  perspectives  terminate  in  that  strange 
and  fantastic  jumble  of  towers  and  pinnacles,  chimneys  and 
domes  which  make  the  roofs  of  Chambord  unlike  any  other 
roofs  in  the  world. 

The  designer  of  the  chateau  was  Pierre  Nepveu  or  Trinqueau, 
the  architect  of  Chenonceaux,  whom  Francis  also  employed  at 
Blois.  The  central  building  forms  a  huge  parallelogram, 
flanked  by  massive  corner  towers,  a  survival  of  the  square 
feudal  donjon  keep.  On  the  north,  the  side  facing  the  river, 
there  are  two  wings  of  unequal  length  terminating  in  round 
towers  corresponding  to  those  of  the  main  building.  From 
these  towers  two  other  wings  extend  at  right  angles,  also 
terminating  in  towers  and  connected  on  the  south  by  a  line  of 
one-storied  offices. 

The  most  striking  views  are  from  the  court,  whence  the 
entire  group  of  buildings  can  be  seen.  Except  for  the  two 
charming  stair-towers,  placed  at  the  northwest  and  northeast 
angles  of  the  court,  the  lower  parts  of  the  chateau  are  quite 
plain ;  it  is  only  where  the  roof  begins  that  it  blossoms  out  into 
that  wild  exuberance  of  peaks  and  turrets  and  pinnacles. 

In  the  interior  the  central  building  is  mainly  taken  up  by  a 
vast  Guard  room  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  whose  four  arms,  ex- 

334 


I 


OHAMBORD 


te* >■  ii  north,  east  and  west,  between  the  a 

are  united  in  th  v*  dre  by  the  wonderful  double  st,r 
section-  oom  are  now  divided  intc  s 

the  i>*i  r  .  left  ope1  :  in  the  original  plan,  extend 
carved  one  bafrel-rooi  cut  into  squares  in  which  the 

rancis  I  alternal 

. 

The  famous  stair,  which  rises  th  le  cent 

building  from  ground  to  roof,  is  sum  -  -uined  !  an  open 
capped  by  the  single  fleur-de-lys  t  h  a :  ?  ■  sea ;  >r '  d  ■  volv 
loftiest  point  of  the  chateau. 

about  the  same  hallow  shaft.  This  Shaft,  as 

■the  outer  wad  <>!'  .  uppqrt,  is  of  open  carved  stone  - 

Itfem,  »hbougtj  a  people  may  pass  up  and  down  et*  \ 

Out  ever  meeting,  they  will  constantly  can  h  thane  mi 

ing  glimpses  of  one  another  across  the  intervci  \ 

The  one  overmastering  impression  made  ; 

■  ■ 

ders  through  the  great  empty  Guard  rooms 
to  the  four  points  oi  the  c  >m pass,  through 
wings  with  their  four  hundred  and  forty  rooms  a 
cases,  through  the  intricate  *\  ork-of  building 
a  verb  hie  little  town  in  it  seems  impo; 

■ikte  jprson  should  ever  have  -itch  a  place  wtir* 

a  hurt  uu*  seat;  yet  that  is  \\  built  it 

u  to  which  he  ever  put  in.  In  1539  the  Emper  . 

V,  was  entertained  there,  anti  found  such  pxxl  spo; 
<?.aved  on  five*'  $  pour  L  '  urtation  < 

. 

19  337 


CHATEAU  OF  CHAMBORD,  FACADE  FACING  THE  COSSON 


CHAMBORD 


tending  north,  south,  east  and  west,  between  the  corner  towers, 
are  united  in  the  centre  by  the  wonderful  double  stair.  Three 
sections  of  the  Guard  room  are  now  divided  into  stories,  but 
the  fourth,  left  open  as  in  the  original  plan,  extends  up  to  a 
carved  stone  barrel-roof  cut  into  squares  in  which  the  letter  F 
and  the  salamander  of  Francis  I  alternate. 

The  famous  stair,  which  rises  through  the  centre  of  the 
building  from  ground  to  roof,  is  surmounted  by  an  open  lantern 
capped  by  the  single  fleur-de-lys  that  escaped  the  Revolution,  the 
loftiest  point  of  the  chateau.  It  is  formed  by  two  spirals  start¬ 
ing  from  different  points  and  at  different  elevations  and  winding 
about  the  same  central  hollow  shaft.  This  shaft,  as  well  as 
the  outer  wall  of  support,  is  of  open  carved  stone-work,  and 
thus,  although  two  people  may  pass  up  and  down  eternally  with¬ 
out  ever  meeting,  they  will  constantly  catch  flying  and  tantaliz¬ 
ing  glimpses  of  one  another  across  the  intervening  well. 

The  one  overmastering  impression  made  upon  the  mind  by 
Chambord  is  that  of  space,  vast,  limitless  space.  As  one  wan¬ 
ders  through  the  great  empty  Guard  rooms  stretching  away 
to  the  four  points  of  the  compass,  through  the  interminable 
wings  with  their  four  hundred  and  forty  rooms  and  fifty  stair¬ 
cases,  through  the  intricate  network  of  buildings  on  the  roof — 
a  veritable  little  town  in  itself — it  seems  impossible  that  any 
sane  person  should  ever  have  planned  such  a  place  merely  as 
a  hunting  seat;  yet  that  is  what  Francis  I  built  it  for,  and  the 
sole  use  to  which  he  ever  put  it.  In  1539  the  Emperor,  Charles 
V,  was  entertained  there,  and  found  such  good  sport  that  he 
stayed  on  for  five  days  pour  la  delectation  de  la  chasse  aux  daims. 
Six  years  later  Francis  returned,  this  time  hoping  to  find  dis¬ 
traction  for  himself  in  his  favorite  pastime  from  the  black  care 
and  failing  health  that  were  settling  down  upon  him.  He  lin- 

29  337 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

gered  on  for  several  melancholy  months,  taking  no  pleasure  in 
anything  but  the  society  of  his  adoring  sister,  Margaret,  who, 
as  soon  as  she  heard  of  her  brother’s  condition,  hastened  to 
Chambord  with  a  little  suite  of  artists  and  men  of  letters  whose 
conversation  she  hoped  might  still  have  power  to  interest  the 
moody  King.  Francis,  it  is  said,  gave  vent  one  day  to  his  dis¬ 
illusionment  by  scratching  the  distich : 

Souvent  femme  varie 
Mai  habile  qui  s’y  fie. 

on  a  pane  of  glass  in  the  study  of  his  private  suite,  where  it 
remained  until  one  day  when  Louis  XIV  smashed  the  pane  to 
satisfy  the  vanity  of  Louise  de  la  Valliere. 

Notwithstanding  the  additions  he  made  to  the  chateau,  Henry 
II  came  there  but  little,  and  his  sons  and  Henry  IV  still  less. 
In  1626  Louis  XIII  gave  Chambord,  together  with  the  county 
of  Blois  and  the  duchies  of  Orleans  and  Chartres,  to  his  brother, 
Gaston  of  Orleans,  in  reward  for  the  betrayal  by  the  latter  of 
his  friends  of  the  Chalais  conspiracy1  and  for  agreeing  to  marry 
Mile,  de  Montpensier.  Some  of  the  conspirators  were  exe¬ 
cuted,  others  died  in  prison,  and  Gaston  lost  his  wife  in  the  year 
succeeding  their  marriage,  but  none  of  these  events  appear  to 
have  made  even  a  passing  impression  upon  him.  It  is  said  of  him 
that  “his  vivacity  was  something  quite  extraordinary.  When 
he  was  no  longer  young  his  servants  had  to  button  his  clothes 
on  the  run.  He  spun  and  pirouetted  continually,  one  hand 
thrust  in  his  pocket,  his  cap  pulled  over  one  ear,  and  always 
whistling.”  His  daughter,  the  “Grande  Mademoiselle,”  tells  in 
her  Memoirs  of  a  visit  she  paid  as  a  child  to  her  father  at 
Chambord,  and  of  the  characteristic  reception  he  gave  her. 
“Monsieur,”  who  was  at  the  top  of  the  double  stair  when  the 

1  See  p.  282  (Note  2). 

338 


. 

d  the  ductoiATef  .MsPOtf  to  his  brother, 


CHAMBORD 


little  girl  arrived,  called  to  her  to  come  to  him.  As  she  flew  up 
one  flight  her  frolicsome  parent  ran  down  the  other;  puzzled, 
she  gave  chase  only  to  find  when  she  reached  the  bottom  that 
he  was  again  at  the  top.  “Monsieur  laughed  heartily  to  see 
me  run  so  fast  in  the  hope  of  catching  him,  while  I,”  adds  the 
little  maiden  sedately,  “was  glad  that  Monsieur  was  so  well 
amused.” 

With  the  death  of  Gaston  of  Orleans  Chambord  reverted 
to  the  Crown,  and  in  1660  Louis  XIV  paid  a  visit  there  with 
his  bride,  the  Infanta  Maria  Theresa.  They  had  been  married 
at  St.  Jean  de  Luz  and  were  making  a  royal  progress  through 
the  country  accompanied  by  the  entire  Court.  Louis  had  never 
been  to  Chambord  before ;  he  examined  the  entire  building  and 
came  to  the  astonishing  conclusion  that  it  was  too  small !  Plans 
were  made  to  enlarge  it  by  the  addition  of  an  avant-cour  sur¬ 
rounded  by  two  wings  and  a  grill,  but  the  foundations  only  of 
one  of  the  wings  were  laid,  and  on  these  Marshal  Saxe  later 
erected  barracks  for  his  Uhlans. 

Louis  XIV  came  frequently  to  Chambord  for  hunting, 
throughout  his  reign,  and  when  there  always  provided  royally 
for  the  entertainment  of  his  Court.  The  daily  routine  included  a 
hunt,  followed  by  a  banquet,  then  the  King’s  reception  from  6  to 
10,  and  a  ball  to  wind  up  with.  One  of  the  wings  of  the  Guard 
room  was  fitted  up  as  a  theatre,  with  the  royal  box  backing 
against  the  double  stair.  Here  Moliere  gave  the  first  repre¬ 
sentations  of  “Pourceaugnac”  and  the  “Bourgeois  Gentil- 
homme.”  Everyone  had  been  agog  over  the  recent  visit  of 
some  Turks  to  Paris,  and  the  King  thought  it  would  be  amus¬ 
ing  to  have  them  represented  on  the  stage.  Moliere  was  told, 
therefore,  to  write  a  play  introducing  Turks,  and  the  “Bour¬ 
geois  Gentilhomme”  was  the  result.  The  impression  made  by 

341 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

the  first  representation  was  disheartening.  The  King  sat 
through  the  entire  performance  without  moving  a  muscle,  and 
the  audience,  of  course,  followed  suit.  The  second  perform¬ 
ance,  five  days  later,  came  off  no  better,  and  Moliere,  half  dead 
with  anxiety,  was  hardly  able  to  appear  at  the  supper  after¬ 
wards.  He  could  see  the  courtiers  nudging  one  another,  and 
whispering  together  that  his  powers  were  evidently  exhausted : 
he  was  no  longer  amusing.  Suddenly  the  King  began  to  talk 
about  the  play,  saying  it  was  the  most  laughable  thing  he  had 
ever  seen  in  his  life,  quite  the  best  that  Moliere  had  yet  written. 
In  an  instant  all  was  changed  and  the  courtiers  crowded  about 
the  fortunate  author,  congratulating  him  on  his  brilliant 
success ! 

When  the  Court  drove  down  to  Chambord  in  the  autumn  of 
1684  there  was  much  secret  comment  and  conjecture  aroused  by 
the  unexpected  sight  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  meek  and  self- 
effacing  as  usual,  seated  up  beside  the  Dauphine  in  the  King’s 
carriage,  while  Madame  de  Montespan,  with  her  three  children, 
was  relegated  to  one  of  the  carriages  of  the  suite.  This  was, 
in  fact,  just  about  the  date  of  the  secret  marriage  between  the 
King  and  Madame  de  Maintenon. 

Louis  XIV  paid  one  more  visit  to  Chambord,  but  after  that 
the  chateau  was  left  to  forty  years  of  abandonment  and  neglect ; 
then,  in  1725,  Louis  XV  gave  it  as  a  residence  to  his  father-in-  • 
law,  Stanislas  Leczinska,  driven  out  of  Poland  by  the  Elector 
of  Saxony. 

This  exiled  King  lived  contentedly  at  Chambord  for  eight 
years.  He  liked  nothing  better  than  to  potter  about  among 
the  country-people,  standing  godfather  for  their  babies  and 
advising  them  as  to  the  management  of  their  farms  and  their 
families.  He  injured  the  appearance  of  the  chateau  by  filling 

342 


CHATEAU  OF  CHEVERNEY:  FROM  THE 


GARDEN 


1* 


mmm 


mm 


§i  m  1 y '  > 


;'^f§fc 


Si.: 


ifH 

. 


CHAMBORD 


in  the  moats,  which  he  conceived  to  be  unsanitary,  and  by 
obliterating  the  terraces,  thereby  giving  the  building  its  present 
squat  appearance. 

Twelve  years  later,  when  Stanislas  had  gone  to  take  pos¬ 
session  of  the  duchies  of  Bar  and  Lorraine,  given  him  in 
satisfaction  of  his  claim  on  Poland,  Louis  XV  handed  over 
Chambord  to  a  very  different  kind  of  tenant,  Hermann  Maurice, 
Marshal  Saxe,  the  natural  son  of  Augustus  II  of  Saxony  and 
the  Countess  of  Konigsmark.  Here,  after  the  Peace  of  Aix- 
la-Chapelle  in  1748,  the  Marshal  established  himself  with  two 
regiments  of  Uhlans  and  a  throng  of  gay  companions,  and 
for  two  years  the  entire  country-side  was  enlivened  by  echoes 
of  the  roystering  life  at  the  chateau.  Six  cannons  captured  from 
the  enemy  guarded  the  entrance;  horses  ran  wild  through  the 
park,  trained  like  those  of  a  modern  fire-brigade  to  race  to  their 
stalls  at  the  fanfare  of  the  trumpets,  to  be  caparisoned  for  the 
daily  review.  The  great  court  resounded  to  the  beating  of 
drums  and  the  clash  of  arms,  and  the  forest  echoed  to  the  thun¬ 
der  of  the  horses’  hoofs  as  the  Uhlans  charged  an  imaginary 
enemy.  Hunting,  feasting  and  revelry  followed  each  other 
without  intermission,  and  then,  in  a  moment,  all  the  gay  life 
ceased.  On  30th  November,  1750,  the  Marshal  died,  worn  out 
by  forty-two  years  of  unmeasured  fatigue  and  dissipation.  For 
ten  days  the  cannons  boomed  forth  every  quarter  of  an  hour, 
while  for  thirty  days  more  the  body  of  the  victor  of  Fontenoy 
lay  exposed  upon  a  bed  of  state  surrounded  by  sixteen  standards 
captured  in  battle. 

This  closed  the  brilliant  annals  of  Chambord.  Forty  years  of 
neglect  followed  by  the  Revolution  reduced  the  chateau  to 
such  a  state  of  dreary  ruin  that,  although  Napoleon  I  gave  it 
to  Charles  IV  of  Spain,  whom  he  had  despoiled  of  a  kingdom, 

345 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

the  Spanish  King  never  took  any  steps  to  claim  it,  and  some  • 
years  later  the  chateau  and  domain  were  presented  to  the 
Emperor’s  Chief  of  Staff,  Marshal  Berthier.  After  Berthier’s 
death  his  widow,  first  cutting  down  all  the  timber,  offered  the 
estate  for  sale,  and  in  1821  a  public  subscription  was  started 
to  purchase  it  and  present  it  as  the  gift  of  the  nation  to  the 
infant  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  grandson  of  Charles  X  and  heir 
presumptive  to  the  ancient  monarchy.  Notwithstanding  a 
furious  pamphlet  launched  by  Paul  Louis  Courier,  denouncing 
the  project,  it  was  carried  into  effect;  the  required  sum, 
1,542,000  francs,  was  raised  and  the  domain  and  chateau  of 
Chambord  were  purchased  and  offered  to  the  guardians  of  the 
young  Prince.  Yet  so  bitter  was  the  party  feeling  aroused  by 
Courier’s  allusions  to  the  elder  and  younger  branches  of  the 
Royal  Blouse,  that  Charles  X  hesitated  several  years  before 
he  dared  to  accept  the  gift  in  his  grandson’s  name,  and  would 
hardly  allow  the  young  Prince’s  mother  to  stop  at  Chambord 
for  a  few  days  in  1828,  when  she  was  passing  through  Blois.1 

Two  years  later  came  the  Revolution  of  July  and  the  fall 
of  the  Bourbons,  after  which  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  dropped 
his  royal  title  and  assumed  the  style  of  Count  of  Chambord. 
An  effort  was  made  by  the  Government  to  sequester  the  estate, 
and  it  was  only  after  twenty  years  of  litigation  that  the  Count 
of  Chambord  was  definitely  established  in  his  rights.  The  only 
visit  that  he  ever  paid  to  the  chateau  was  in  1871,  when  he 
spent  two  nights  there  and  wrote  a  letter  to  the  French  people 

1  Courier  declared  that  the  impressions  Duke  of  Orleans,  head  of  the  younger 
the  young  Prince  would  receive  from  the  branch  of  the  royal  House),  was  at  col- 
walls  of  Chambord  could  be  nothing  but  lege,  receiving  a  good,  sound,  monarchical 
pernicious.  Were  it  a  question  of  raising  education,  and  at  the  same  time  learning 
money  wherewith  to  educate  him,  that  certain  eternal  verities  of  which  his  an- 
would  indeed  be  worth  while.  The  Duke  cestors  had  known  nothing, 
of  Chartres,  he  observed  (son  of  the 

346 


'v  fflfcV 

-  :  R|Jii! 

•»  •&1HET'  JZ-!'  ‘  \  I  .  £] 

1 

*SffTK[  '*** 

B  I  .wflfflt 

|*V)i  Mh 

H?  Ki 

■  !  *.  aI  ijjc  j  i 

BXl  t',  |Rfji 

„  ufr  Kt  'Sill "i*iL 

' 

;  ,  i;  ,  on  th  i 

■  ■  t n 

Paei 

to  restore  the  * 

■  Pal  •.-'aide  ■  - 

b-*rd  has  now 

ceased  to  feel  !  >  : 

tea  h  -. 

mental  abodes  h 

■  - 

After  leavi 

■  , n  r' ;  > 

■ 

on-'-;. 

vir  i 

,  agera  a.o  gaa  3jja8  aj 

■  aitoaM;  tip  :to  j/,r,  a m 

beyond  whit 

• 

sunlit  space  or 

keds-  rip  ;  ■  ■  - 

clipped  ■  in  turn. 

Cheverm  >  ;;  :  e: 

descend  ; 


p^riy,  jgj§g$  piK-'kl  inent 

l  urault,  kn  * 

the.  present  cha; <■  n 

' 

.fan--  ' umd  many  time 

in  s  i  uraLult  de  Vibray, 

ants  &,\  u  i? 

i  The  chaleasi  >  ■••  •>  -v,  dignified  build  s  * 

349 


CHATEAU  OF  CHAMBORD:  LA  SALLE  DES  GARDES 


CHEVERNEY 


which  was  practically  the  death-blow  to  his  cause.  On  his 
death,  in  1883,  Chambord  passed  to  its  present  proprietors,  the 
Duke  of  Parma  and  the  Count  of  Bardi,  sons  of  the  Duchess  of 
Parma,  the  only  sister  of  the  Count  of  Chambord. 

The  chateau  is  kept  in  repair,  but  there  has  been  no  attempt 
to  restore  the  interior  to  anything  like  a  habitable  state.  Cham¬ 
bord  has  now  the  frigid  look  of  a  place  that  has  long  since 
ceased  to  feel  the  pulse  of  life  beating  within  its  walls,  and  one 
realizes  in  looking  at  the  chateau  that  the  day  of  such  monu¬ 
mental  abodes  has  passed  away  forever. 

After  leaving  Chambord  the  road  runs  for  several  miles 
through  the  forest  of  Boulogne,  then  emerges  on  a  wind-swept 
plain,  dips  into  the  valley  of  the  Conon,  and  brings  one  at  last 
to  the  remote  little  village  of  Cheverney,  the  most  stirring  events 
of  whose  sleepy  existence  probably  consist  in  the  arrival  of 
visitors  to  the  chateau. 

A  stone  gateway  opposite  the  church  opens  on  a  short  avenue, 
beyond  which  stands  the  house.  Before  it  stretches  a  wide, 
sunlit  space  ornamented  with  flower-beds  and  conventionally 
clipped  trees  in  tubs. 

Cheverney  is  an  inhabited  chateau;  inhabited,  moreover,  by 
descendants  of  the  man  who  first  built  upon  the  site,  in  the  XVth 
century,  one  Jacques  Hurault,  Sieur  of  Grange,  Cheverney, 
Vibray,  and  Huriel.  His  most  eminent  descendant  was  the 
minister  of  Henry  IV,  Philippe  Hurault,  known  as  the  Chan¬ 
cellor  Cheverney,  whose  son  built  the  present  chateau  in  1634. 
Some  generations  later  the  property  passed  from  the  Hurault 
family,  and  after  changing  hands  many  times  was  bought  back 
in  1825  by  the  Marquis  de  Hurault  de  Vibray,  whose  descend¬ 
ants  still  own  it. 

The  chateau  is  a  mellow,  dignified  building  in  the  style  of 

349 


THE  CHATEAUX  OF  TOURAINE 

Louis  XIV.  At  both  ends  of  the  facade  rise  square  pavilions 
surmounted  by  rounded  roofs  and  lanterns.  Between  the  win¬ 
dows  of  the  second  floor  are  a  row  of  niches  holding  busts,  and 
the  broken  line  of  the  roofs  is  further  relieved  by  dormers  and 
circular  windows. 

Within,  the  decorations  and  furnishings  are  all  in  a  style 
of  rich  and  sober  elegance.  There  are  series  of  panel-pictures 
by  Jean  Mosnier,  a  native  of  Blois  who  flourished  in  the  early 
part  of  theXVIIth  century,  sculptured  chimney-pieces  belonging 
to  the  same  period,  painted  ceilings  and  portraits  by  Clouet, 
Porbus,  and  other  artists  of  the  French  school.  A  stately  stair 
of  carved  stone  leads  to  the  apartments  on  the  second  floor 
called  “the  King’s  suite,”  containing,  besides  many  fine  old 
tapestries  and  paintings,  a  travelling  chest  of  Henry  IV  and 
an  archaic-looking  bedstead,  perhaps  the  “old  bed  with  its  old 
hangings,”  which  the  Chancellor  Cheverney  could  in  no  wise 
be  induced  tc  give  up. 

Not  a  single  episode  of  note,  not  a  tragedy,  not  a  scandal  is 
associated  with  the  chateau  of  Cheverney.  Its  annals  are  of 
that  simple  type  which,  if  they  do  not  make  history,  do  at  least 
make  happiness. 

After  reading  of  the  wars  and  tumults,  the  murder  and  blood¬ 
shed,  the  intrigues  and  heart-breaks  that  have  thrown  their 
dark  shadows  athwart  the  walls  of  so  many  others  of  the 
chateaux,  one  is  glad  to  carry  away  as  a  last  impression  the 
picture  of  this  fair,  stately  mansion,  standing  amidst  its  lawns 
and  flower-beds  and  bathed  in  the  sweet  sunshine. 


350 


CHATEAU  OF  CHEVERNEY 


INDEX 


Abd-el-Kader,  Emir,  at  Amboise,  199 
/Egidius,  Roman  General,  besieges  Chi- 
non,  hi 

Alain  Barbetorte,  Count  of  Nantes,  112 
Alaric  II,  defeated  by  Clovis,  8,  112 
Albany,  John,  Duke  of,  Uncle  of  Cath¬ 
erine  de  Medicis,  272 
Albret,  Alain  d’,  marries  his  daughter  to 
Caesar  Borgia,  144;  tries  to  marry 
Anne  of  Brittany,  156 
Alenqon,  the  Duke  of,  son  of  Henry  II, 
220,  223,  318 

Alexander  VI,  Divorce  of  Louis  XII, 
144;  treaty  with  Charles  VIII,  181 
Amboise,  Charles  d’,  Grand  Master  un¬ 
der  Louis  XII,  313,  314 
Amboise,  Charles  d’,  Chamberlain  under 
Louis  XI,  builds  Chaumont,  310 
Amboise,  Georges,  Cardinal  d’,  144,  313 
Amboise,  Hugh  d’,  171 
Amboise,  Louis  d’,  forfeits  the  Chateau 
of  Amboise,  171 

Amboise,  Pierre  d’,  Sieur  of  Chaumont, 
3io,  314 

Ancre,  Concino  Concini,  Marshal  d’,  249, 
231 

Anne  de  Beaujeu,  Regent,  daughter  of 
Louis  XI,  44,  74,  104,  162,  178 
Anne  of  Brittany,  early  history  and  mar¬ 
riage  with  Charles  VIII,  156;  death, 
215;  death  of  Charles  VIII,  182;  death 
of  the  Dauphin,  182;  her  device,  107; 
founds  an  order  for  virtuous  ladies, 
107;  Livre  d’Heures  of,  54;  marriage 
of  Claude  of  France,  219;  marriage 
with  Louis  XII,  186;  rooms  in  the 
Chateau  of  Loches,  104;  tomb  of  her 
children,  22 

Anonyme  de  Marmoutier,  1’,  91 
Aqueduct  near  Luynes,  252 
Armagnac,  Bernard  VII,  d’,  becomes 
head  of  the  Orleans  party,  122;  his 
death,  125 ;  his  daughter  married  to 
the  Duke  of  Orleans,  209 
Armagnacs,  massacre  of  the,  125 
Arnoul,  Duke  of  Flanders,  murder  of 
William  Longsword,  112 


Arras,  treaty  of,  ior 

Arthur  of  Brittany,  deprived  of  his 
birth-right  by  his  uncle,  69;  gives 
Langeais  to  Robert  de  Vitre,  150; 
murdered,  70 

Aumale,  Claude  de  Lorraine,  Due  d’, 
219,  268 

Aumale,  Due  d’,  2d  son  of  Louis  Phil¬ 
ippe,  199 

Autun,  the  Bishop  of,  confined  at  Loches, 
80 

Avisseau,  the  story  of,  50 


Balue,  Cardinal  La,  confined  at  Loches, 
73 ;  his  so-called  cell  at  Plessis-des- 
Tours,  42 

Balzac,  Honore  de,  birthplace  of,  53 ; 
house  of  Mile.  Gamard,  Tours,  25 ; 
Le  Lys  dans  la  Vallee,  19 
Bardi,  the  Count  of,  one  of  the  present 
proprietors  of  Chambord,  349 
Bartholomew,  St.,  the  Massacre  of,  108 
Bastard  of  Wandonne,  the,  136 
Bastille,  “oubliette”  in  the,  81 
Battles : 

Azincourt,  122 
Crecy,  121 
Novaro,  79 
Poitiers,  121 
Pontlevoi,  64 
Verneuil,  38,  129 
Vouille,  8 

Baudricourt,  Robert  de,  and  Jeanne 
d’Arc,  130 

Beaufort,  the  Duke  of,  son  of  Cesar, 
Duke  of  Vendome,  286 
Beaulieu,  the  Abbey  of,  founded  by  Fulk 
Nerra,  57 

Beauvillier,  Paul,  Duke  of,  buys  Chau¬ 
mont,  322 

Becchi,  Gentile,  Florentine  Ambassador 
to  the  Court  of  Charles  VIII,  181 
Beggars  at  Tours  in  the  14th  century,  14 
“Belle  des  Belles,”  the,  see  Agnes  Sorel 
Belles  _  Cousines,  Hystoire  et  Plaisante 
cronique,  etc.,  153 


355 


INDEX 


Berangaria,  widow  of  Richard  Coeur-de- 
Lion,  inherits  Loches,  69 
Bernard,  Jean,  Archbishop  of  Tours, 
struggle  with  the  chapter  of  Loches,  96 
Berthier,  Marshal,  Napoleon  gives  him 
Chambord,  346 

Bertholet,  a  bourgeois  of  Tours,  buys 
Azay-le-Rideau,  299 

Bertholet,  Gilles,  rebuilds  the  chateau, 

300 

Bertrade  de  Montfort,  5th  wife  of  Fulk 
le  Rechin  and  2d  wife  of  King  Philip 
I,  68 

Biencourt,  Marquis  de,  late  owner  of 
Azay-le-Rideau,  305 

Bohier,  Antoine,  loses  Chenonceaux,  263, 

271 

Bohier,  Thomas,  Minister  of  Louis  XI, 
builder  of  Chenonceaux,  262;  his  tomb 
at  St.  Saturnin’s,  14 
Boissy,  Madame  du,  98 
Bordeaux,  the  Duke  of,  given  Chambord 
by  the  nation,  346 

Borgia,  Caesar,  his  reception  at  Chinon, 

144 

Bouillon,  Robert  IV  de  la  Mark,  Duke 
of,  268 

Bourbon,  Anthony  de.  King  of  Navarre, 
the  Renaudie  conspiracy,  188 
Bourbon,  Antoinette  de,  wife  of  Claude 
of  Lorraine,  Duke  of  Guise,  219 
Bourbon,  the  Bastard  of,  Admiral  of 
France,  74 

Bourbon,  Cardinal  de,  to  succeed  Henry 
III,  48;  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Guise, 

226 

Bourbon,  Constable  de,  conspiracy  in  the 
reign  of  Francis  I,  80 
Bourbon,  Pierre  de,  Letter  of  Charles 
VIII  to.  181 

“Bourgeois  Gentilhomme,”  the,  first  pro¬ 
duced  at  Chambord,  341 
“Bourges,  the  King  of,”  127 
Bourre,  Jean,  Minister  of  Finance  under 
Louis  XI,  152 

Brantome,  account  of  Agnes  Sorel,  98; 
Charles  d’Amboise,  314;  Diane  of 
Poitiers,  271 ;  death  of  Anne  of  Brit¬ 
tany,  215;  marriage  of  Francis  I,  216 
Brenne,  Count  of,  escape  of  Marie  de 
Medici  s,  235 

Breze,  Louis  de,  Grand  Seneschal  of 
Normandy,  husband  of  Diane  of 
Poitiers,  80 

Brice,  Saint,  his  cave  at  Marmoutier,  32 

356 


Briqonnet,  Guillaume,  Cardinal  St.  Malo, 
Minister  of  Charles  VIII,  263 ;  builds 
clock  tower  of  Tours,  14 
Briqonnet,  Katherine,  wife  of  Thomas 
Bohier,  262;  her  tomb  at  St.  Satur¬ 
nin’s,  14 

Bridge  of  Avignon,  35 
Bridge  called  the  “Pont  de  Pierre,” 
Tours,  53 

Bridge  of  St.  Symphorien,  Tours,  32 
Brittany,  Anne  of,  see  Anne, 

Brittany  becomes  a  part  of  France,  159 
Brittany,  device  and  motto  of  the  dukes 
of,  107 

Broglie,  the  Princesse  de,  present  owner 
of  Chaumont,  327 

Burgundy,  Jean  Sans  Peur,  Duke  of,  his 
attitude  in  the  English  wars,  37,  125 ; 
murder  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  209, 
121 ;  murdered  at  Montereau,  126 
Burgundy,  Philippe  le  Bon,  Duke  of, 
goes  over  to  the  English,  126;  besieges 
Compiegne,  136 

Burgundy,  Philippe  le  Hardi,  Duke  of, 
his  quarrel  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
206 


“Caesar’s  Granaries,”  Amboise,  175 
“Cages”  at  Loches,  73 
Calais,  captured  by  the  English,  121 
Calixtus,  Pope,  rehabilitation  of  Jeanne 
d’Arc,  137 

Castelnau-Chalosse,  the  baron  of,  exe¬ 
cuted  at  Amboise,  195 
Castra,  Roman,  3 

Cathedral  of  St.  Gatien,  Tours,  20,  26 
Catherine  of  France,  daughter  of  Charles 
VI,  treaty  of  marriage  with  Henry  V 
of  England,  126 

Catherine  de  Medicis,  264;  buys  Chau¬ 
mont,  3x0,  317;  consults  the  astrologer 
Ruggieri,  317;  her  death,  229;  her  es¬ 
tate,  281 ;  murder  of  the  Duke  of 
Guise,  226 

Cauchon,  Pierre,  Bishop  of  Beauvais, 
conducts  the  trial  of  Jeanne  d’Arc,  136 
Chalais  conspiracy,  the,  286 
Chambord,  Count  of,  see  Bordeaux, 
Duke  of, 

Chapels : 

St.  Calais,  Blois,  21 1 
St.  Hubert.  Amboise,  175 
St.  Martin,  in  the  Chateau  of 
Chinon,  135 


INDEX 


St.  Martin,  at  Tours,  8,  io 
St.  Salle-Bceuf,  Loches,  63 
St.  Sepulchre,  Luynes,  252 
Charlemagne  at  Tours,  9 
“Charlemagne  Bible,”  the,  54 
Charles  II,  le  Chauve,  the  Girdle  of  the 
Virgin,  92 

Charles  V,  le  Sage,  alters  the  Louvre 
and  builds  the  Hotel  des  Tournelles, 
97;  the  Hundred  Years  War,  121 ; 
“Livre  d’Heures”  of,  54 
Charles  VI,  le  Bien-Aime,  after  the 
battle  of  Azincourt,  122 ;  death,  126 
Charles  VII,  and  Agnes  Sorel,  98;  at 
Azay-le-Rideau,  296;  begins  the  Cha¬ 
teau  of  Loches,  73 ;  escape  from  Paris, 
125;  fall  of  La  Tremo'ille,  141 ;  Jeanne 
d’Arc,  132;  marriage  of  the  Dauphin, 
38;  murder  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
126 

Charles  VIII,  his  buildings  at  Amboise, 
178;  death,  185;  Italian  campaign,  181 ; 
life  at  Amboise,  178;  marriage  with 
Anne  of  Brittany,  160;  receives  St. 
Francis  de  Paul,  175;  tomb  of  chil¬ 
dren  of,  22 

Charles  IX,  at  Chenonceaux,  277;  at 
Loches,  108 

Charles  X,  the  gift  of  Chambord  to  his 
grandson,  346 

Charles  IV,  of  Spain,  Napoleon  gives 
him  Chambord,  345 

Charles  V,  Emperor,  at  Amboise,  187; 
at  Chambord,  337 ;  at  Loches,  107 ; 
betrothed  to  Claude  of  France,  2x4; 
the  treaty  of  Madrid,  81 
Charlotte  of  Savoy,  wife  of  Louis  XI, 
104,  177 

Chateau  Royal  of  Tours,  the,  35,  38 
Chateauneuf,  13,  19 

Chaumie,  Dr.,  owner  of  Plessis-les- 
Tours,  42 

Choiseul,  Duke  of,  exchanges  Pompa¬ 
dour  for  Amboise,  172 
Churches : 

Les  Carmes,  Tours,  13 
St.  Denis,  Tours,  13 
St.  Etienne,  Chinon,  143 
St.  Florentin,  Amboise,  177 
St.  Genevieve,  Luynes,  251 
St.  Julien,  Tours,  49 
St.  Mary  Magdalene,  later  the  Vir¬ 
gin  and  St.  Ours,  Loches,  91 
St.  Maurice,  Chinon,  143 
Notre  Dame  du  Bout-des-Ponts, 
Amboise,  172 

Notre  Dame  la  Riche,  Tours,  13 


St.  Ours,  Loches,  destroyed  in  the 
Revolution,  97 

St.  Pierre-des-Corps,  Tours,  50 
St.  Saturnin,  Tours,  13 
St.  Sauveur,  Langeais,  162 
Cinq  Mars,  the  Conspiracy  of,  156;  le 
Marquis  de,  155;  Pile  and  Chateau  de, 
155 

Claude  of  France,  betrothed  to  Charles, 
Infant  of  Spain,  2x4;  betrothed  to 
Francis,  Prince  of  Angouleme,  187,  214 ; 
married  to  Francis,  Prince  of  Angou¬ 
leme,  216;  receives  Brittany  as  her 
marriage  portion,  296 
Clement  V,  suppresses  the  Order  of 
Knights  Templars,  119 
Clement  VII  (Julian  de  Medicis),  272 
Clos-Luce,  Amboise,  176 
Clovis,  defeats  Alaric  II,  112;  takes  Am¬ 
boise,  171 ;  his  veneration  for  St.  Mar¬ 
tin,  8 

Colombe,  Michael,  altar  screen  at  St. 
Saturnin’s,  14;  tomb  of  children  of 
Charles  VIII,  22 

Commines,  Philippe  de,  his  cage  at 
Loches,  74;  his  cell  at  Loches,  62;  his 
cell  at  Plessis-les-Tours,  42;  his  ac¬ 
count  of  the  death  of  Charles  VIII, 
182 ;  his  account  of  the  death  of  Louis 
XI,  47;  engages  in  a  plot  against  the 
Regent,  162;  his  marriage,  142 
Compiegne,  Jeanne  d’Arc  made  prisoner 
at  the  siege  of,  136 

Concino  Concini,  Marshal  d’Ancre,  fa¬ 
vorite  of  Marie  de  Medicis,  231,  247 
Conde,  the  Prince  of,  and  the  Renaudie 
Conspiracy,  188,  276 

Constance  of  Castille,  2d  wife  of  Louis 
VII,  115 

Cottier,  James,  Louis  Xlth’s  doctor,  44 
Coudray,  Chateau  de,  Chinon,  141 
Council  of  Tours,  113 
Courier,  Paul  Louis,  pamphlets  denounc¬ 
ing  purchase  of  Chambord,  346 
Crusade,  the  First,  preached  by  Urban 
II  at  Marmoutier,  31,  113 
Curfew  rung  from  St.  Saturnin’s,  Tours, 
14 

Diane  of  Poitiers,  see  Poitiers 
Domremy,  birthplace  of  Jeanne  d’Arc, 
130 

Donjon  de  Coudray,  Chinon,  141,  120 

Donjon  of  Loches,  62 

Douglas,  Archibald,  Earl  of,  created 


357 


INDEX 


Duke  of  Touraine,  3 7;  killed  at  battle 
of  Verneuil,  38 

Du  Bellay,  Sieur  de  Langeais,  162 
Ducos,  Roger,  given  Amboise  by  Napo¬ 
leon,  199 
Dunois,  160 

Dupin,  Claude,  Fermier  General,  buys 
Chenonceaux,  286 

Edict  of  Amboise,  196 
Edward  III  of  England,  his  claim  to 
the  throne  of  France,  121 
Edward  V  of  England,  betrothed  to 
Anne  of  Brittany,  156 
Eleanor  of  Aquitaine,  repudiated  by 
Louis  VII,  marries  Henry  Plan- 
tagenet,  114 

Emma,  Queen  of  Lothair,  and  the  Girdle 
of  the  Virgin,  92 

Enghien,  Mile,  d’  granddaughter  of  the 
great  Conde,  286 

Epernon,  the  Duke  of,  escape  of  Marie 
de  Medicis,  62,  231 

Ermengarde,  daughter  of  Fulk  Nerra,  68 
Estampes,  Mme.  d’,  favorite  of  Francis 
I,  268 

Estrees,  Gabrielle  d’,  favorite  of  Henry 
IV,  285 

Eudes,  Count  of  Blois,  see  Odo 
Eustache,  Saint,  Bishop  of  Tours,  91 

Ferdinand  I,  of  Arragon,  178,  181 
Ferrara,  the  Cardinal  Legate  of,  277 
Fireworks  introduced  into  France,  278 
Florent,  Saint,  attempt  to  remove  his 
relics,  67 

“Flying  Squadron,”  the,  277 
Fort  St.  Georges,  Chateau  of  Chinon,  138 
“Forty-five,”  a  band  called  the,  224 
Fountain  in  the  Grand  Marche,  Tours, 
16 

Fountains,  public,  first  introduced  into 
France,  16 

Fouquet,  Louis  XIVth’s  Minister,  196 
Francis  I,  of  Angouleme,  additions  to 
the  Chateau  of  Blois,  212;  additions 
to  the  Chateau  of  Loches,  107 ;  at  Am¬ 
boise,  187;  builds  Chambord,  333,  337; 
conspiracy  of  the  Constable  de  Bour¬ 
bon,  80;  and  Leonardi  da  Vinci,  176; 
marries  Claude  of  France,  216.  quat¬ 
rain  on  Agnes  Sorel.  98;  views  skull 
of  the  murdered  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
126;  the  treaty  of  Madrid,  81 


Francis  II,  and  the  Guises,  188;  at 
Chenonceaux,  275 ;  watches  the  exe¬ 
cutions  of  Amboise,  195 
Francis  I,  Duke  of  Brittany,  device  and 
motto  of,  107 

Francis  II,  Duke  of  Brittany,  156 
Francis  de  Paul,  Saint,  brought  to 
France  by  Louis  XI,  47,  175 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  his  medallion  at 
Chaumont,  323 

Fulk  the  Good,  2d  Count  of  Anjou,  112 
Fulk  Nerra,  4th  Count  of  Anjou,  61,  63; 
builds  a  keep  at  Langeais,  149,  162; 
burial  place  of,  57 ;  burns  Chateauneuf, 
13 ;  founds  church  of  the  Chateau  of 
Amboise,  176 

Fulk  the  Surly,  6th  Count  of  Anjou, 
confines  his  brother  at  Chinon,  68,  113 
Fulk  le  Jeune,  7th  Count  of  Anjou,  69; 
founds  the  church  of  Langeais,  162; 
liberates  his  uncle,  113;  marries  Mili- 
cent,  daughter  of  Baldwin  II  of  Jeru¬ 
salem,  162;  takes  the  Cross,  31 

Geoffrey  Martel,  5th  Count  of  Anjou,  64, 

68 

Geoffrey  le  Barbu,  brother  of  Fulk  the 
Surly,  6th  Count  of  Anjou,  113 
Geoffrey  the  Handsome,  8th  Count  of 
Anjou,  marries  the  ex-Empress  Ma¬ 
tilda,  69,  1 13 

Geoffrey,  son  of  Fulk  the  Surly,  poisoned 
by  his  step-mother,  69 
Geoffrey,  son  of  Geoffrey  the  Hand¬ 
some,  8th  Count  of  Anjou,  113,  114 
Geoffrey,  illegitimate  son  of  Henry  II  of 
England,  118 

Gerard  d’Athes,  holds  Loches  for  King 
John,  70 

Giac,  Pierre  de,  the  Chamberlain,  128 
Girdle  of  the  Virgin,  the,  92 
Gouin,  Hotel,  Tours,  16 
Grande  Mademoiselle,  the,  visits  her 
father  at  Chambord,  338 
Grand’  Salle  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the, 
210 

Gregory  of  Tours,  Bishop  and  Historian, 
21 

Guesclin,  Bertrand  du,  his  victories  over 
the  English,  121 

Guise,  Francis,  2d  Duke  of,  murdered 
at  Orleans,  219;  and  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  276;  and  the  Renaudie  Con¬ 
spiracy,  188 

Guise.  Henry,  3d  Duke  of,  220;  murdered 
at  Blois,  226 


358 


INDEX 


Guise,  the  4th  Duke  of,  escapes  from 
Tours,  35 

Guise,  Louis,  Cardinal,  murdered  at 
Blois,  230 

Guise,  origin  of  the  House  of,  219 

Haraucourt,  Guillaume  de,  Bishop  of 
Verdun,  inventor  of  the  “cage,”  73 
Hautefort,  Mile,  de,  and  Louis  XIII,  153 
Haillon,  Bernard  du,  anecdote  of  Agnes 
Sorel,  98 

Helene  de  Chambes,  wife  of  Philippe  de 
Commines,  142 

Henry  II,  his  additions  to  the  Chateau 
of  Chambord,  334;  his  additions  to 
the  Chateau  of  Loches,  107 ;  at  Loches, 
108;  his  death,  274;  and  Diane  of 
Poitiers,  267,  274;  his  marriage  with 
Catherine  de  Medicis,  272 
Henry  III,  220;  at  Chenonceaux,  278; 
holds  his  Parliament  at  Tours,  48; 
assassinated,  230,  281 ;  murder  of  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  223 ;  treaty  with  Henry 
of  Navarre,  230 

Henry  IV,  of  Navarre,  abjures  Prot¬ 
estantism,  49;  enters  into  ar.  alliance 
with  Henry  III,  48;  assassinated  at 
Paris,  48,  231 ;  divorces  Margaret  of 
Valois  and  marries  Marie  de  Medicis, 
230;  at  Loches,  108;  succeeds  to  the 
throne,  230 

Henry  II,  of  England,  9th  Count  of 
Anjou,  1 13 ;  his  additions  to  the  Cha¬ 
teau  of  Chinon,  113,  138,  143;  his  rule 
in  Touraine,  36 

Henry  V,  of  England,  the  battle  of  Azin- 
court,  122;  death,  126;  marriage  with 
Catherine  of  France,  126 
Henry  VI,  Emperor,  imprisons  Richard 
Coeur-de-Lion,  69 

Herbert  of  Cherbury,  Lord,  Minister 
to  the  Court  of  Louis  XIII,  247,  248 
Plildegarde,  3d  wife  of  Charlemagne, 
dies  at  Tours,  9 

Hubert  de  Bourg,  holds  Chinon  against 
Philip  Augustus,  119 
Hugo,  Victor,  Le  Roi  s’ Amuse,  81 
Huguenot  Balcony,  the,  175,  195 
Huguenots  massacred  at  Amboise,  192; 
massacred  at  Loches,  108;  pillage  the 
basilica  of  St.  Martin,  10;  pillage  the 
Cathedral  of  Tours,  22 
Hundred  Years  War,  breaking  out  of 
the,  121 

Hurault,  Jacques,  Sieur  of  Cheverney, 
349 


Hurault,  Philippe,  Chancellor,  Chever¬ 
ney,  349 

Ingelger,  father  of  the  first  Count  of 
Anjou,  171 

Institut  de  France,  the,  165 
Isabelle  of  Arragon  (1st),  wife  of  Philip 
the  Bold,  151 

Isabelle  of  Bavaria,  wife  of  Charles  VI, 
206;  exiled  to  Tours,  37,  122 
Isabelle  of  France,  wife  of  Edward  II 
of  England,  120 

Isabelle  of  France,  wife  of  Charles, 
Duke  of  Orleans,  209 
Isabelle  of  Lorraine,  sister-in-law  of 
Queen  Mary  of  Anjou,  101 

Jacques  Coeur,  101 ;  accused  of  the  death 
of  Agnes  Sorel,  102 
James  V  of  Scotland,  at  Loches,  107 
Jean  de  Metz,  escorts  Jeanne  d’Arc  to 
Chinon,  131 
Jeanne  d’Arc,  130 

Jeanne  of  France,  wife  of  Louis  XII, 
144;  her  marriage  annulled,  185 
John  the  Good,  taken  prisoner  at 
Poitiers,  121 

John  Lackland,  King  of  England,  loses 
his  continental  possessions,  70;  mur¬ 
der  of  Prince  Arthur,  70;  seizes 
Loches,  69;  summoned  by  Philip  Au¬ 
gustus,  69;  treachery  to  his  father,  117 
John  XII,  Pope,  and  Geoffrey  Grise- 
gonelle,  91 

Judicael,  Count  of  Brittany,  149 

Justes,  tomb  of  the  Bohiers,  carved  by 
the,  14 

Knights  Templars,  suppression  of  the 
Order  of,  119;  carvings  at  Chinon,  141 

La  Broce,  Pierre  de,  favorite  of  Philip 
the  Bold,  150 

La  Fontaine,  his  visit  to  Amboise,  196 
La  Tremoille,  Georges  de,  101 ;  his  dis¬ 
grace,  141 ;  and  the  Constable  Riche¬ 
mont,  129 
“League,”  the,  48 

Leczinska,  Stanislas,  King  of  Poland,  at 
Chambord,  342 

Leduc,  Pierre  Rene,  cure  of  Loches,  pre¬ 
serves  the  Girdle  of  the  Virgin,  92 
Le  Ray-Chaumont,  Jacques  Donatien, 
former  owner  of  Chaumont,  323 
Le  Roi  s’ Amuse,  Victor  Hugo,  81 


359 


INDEX 


Lesbahy,  Philippe,  wife  of  Gilles  Bertho- 
let,  300 

Library  of  Tours,  the,  53 
Lidoire,  Saint,  Bishop  of  Caesarodunum, 
7,  20 

Ligue  du  Bien  Public,  the,  310 
Limeuil,  Isabelle  de,  278,  322 
Lorraine,  Cardinal,  the  Renaudie  Con¬ 
spiracy,  188 

Lorraine,  Claude  of,  founder  of  the 
House  of  Guise,  219 
Lorraine,  Frangoise  of,  married  to  the 
Duke  of  Vendome,  285 
Louis  II,  the  Stammerer,  171 
Louis  VII,  repudiates  his  wife,  Eleanor 
of  Aquitaine,  1 14 

Louis  IX,  Saint,  and  his  Chamberlain, 
Pierre  de  la  Broce,  150 
Louis  XI,  additions  to  the  Chateau  of 
Amboise,  177;  additions  to  the  Cha¬ 
teau  of  Loches,  104;  and  Agnes  Sorel, 
102;  builds  the  Chateau  of  Langeais, 
142,  152 ;  builds  the  Chateau  of  Ples- 
sis-les-Tours,  42;  provides  cages  for 
his  prisoners,  73;  his  death  at  Plessis- 
les-Tours,  43;  the  dungeons  at  Loches, 
76;  his  marriage  with  Margaret  of 
Scotland,  38;  treatment  of  the  Due 
d’Alengon,  143 

Louis  XII,  of  Orleans,  his  additions  to 
the  Chateau  of  Amboise,  187 ;  his  ad¬ 
ditions  to  the  Chateau  of  Blois,  210, 
240;  his  additions  to  the  Chateau  of 
Loches,  104;  his  birth  at  Blois,  210; 
capture  and  imprisonment  of  Ludovico 
Sforza,  76;  his  death,  216;  death  of 
Anne  of  Brittany,  215;  death  of  the 
son  of  Charles  VIII,  182;  and  Georges 
d’Amboise,  314;  his  life  at  Blois,  214; 
marriage  with  Jeanne  of  France  an¬ 
nulled,  185 ;  marriage  with  Anne  of 
Brittany,  186;  marriage  with  Mary 
Tudor,  216;  joins  plot  against  the 
Beaujeu  government,  74,  162 
Louis  XII,  of  Orleans,  an  early  suitor 
of  Anne  of  Brittany,  156,  162 
Louis  XIII,  and  Charles  d’Albert  of 
Luynes,  247 ;  and  Mile,  de  Hautefort, 
155 

Louis  XIV,  at  Chambord,  341 ;  and 
Louise  de  la  Valliere,  338;  Triumphal 
Arch  at  Tours,  26 

Louis  XV,  and  the  tomb  of  Agnes  Sorel, 
103 

Louise  of  Savoy,  Amboise  assigned  as 
her  residence,  187;  and  the  Semblen- 
gay  administration,  300 


Louise  de  Vaudemont-Lorraine,  wife  of 
Henry  III,  281 

Ludovico  the  Moor,  Duke  of  Milan, 
treaty  with  Charles  VIII,  181 ;  his  im¬ 
prisonment  at  Loches,  76 
Luynes,  Charles  d’Albert,  1st  Duke  of, 
231,  247,  252;  Louis  Charles  d’Albert, 
3d  Duke  of,  255 ;  Langeais  lost  in  the 
Revolution  by  the  Duke  of,  162 
Lys  dans  la  Vallee,  le,  Balzac,  19 

Madeleine  of  France,  wife  of  James  V 
of  Scotland,  107 

Madeleine  de  la  Tour  d’Auvergne, 
mother  of  Catherine  de  Medicis,  272 
Madrid,  Treaty  of,  81 
Maille,  now  Luynes  on  the  Loire,  248 
Maille,  Touchard  de,  sells  his  estate  of 
Montilz-les-Tours  to  Louis  XI,  42 
Maintenon,  Mme.  de,  secretly  married  to 
Louis  XIV,  342 
“Mainz  Bible,”  the,  54 
Mancini,  Laura,  niece  of  Cardinal  Maza- 
rin,  286 

Mansard,  his  wing  at  the  Chateau  of 
Blois,  21 1,  212,  243 

Margaret  of  Austria,  her  marriage  with 
Charles  VIII,  159,  160 
Margaret  of  Scotland,  1st  wife  of  Louis 
XI,  38 

Margaret  of  Valois,  1st  wife  of  Henry 
IV,  230 

Margaret  of  Valois,  sister  of  Francis  I, 

338 

Marmoutier,  31,  32,  35 
Marques  family,  the,  owners  of  Chenon- 
ceaux,  262 

Martin,  Saint,  3 ;  his  cave  at  Marmou¬ 
tier,  32;  the  “Chape”  of,  9;  his  cult 
restored,  10;  his  dwelling  at  Tours,  31 
Matilda,  the  ex-Empress,  widow  of 
Henry  V,  marries  Geoffrey,  Count  of 
Anjou,  1 1 3,  69 

Maurice,  St.,  the  Cathedral  of  Tours 
dedicated  to,  20 

Maximilian  of  Austria,  married  by 
proxy  to  Anne  of  Brittany,  159 
Maria  Theresa,  Infanta,  wife  of  Louis 
XIV,  341 

Marie  of  Anjou,  wife  of  Charles  VII, 
127,  128;  and  Agnes  Sorel,  101 
Marie  of  Brabant,  2d  wife  of  Philip  the 
Bold,  151 

Marie  of  Burgundy,  wife  of  Maximilian 
of  Austria,  156 

360 


INDEX 


Marie  of  Cieves,  3d  wife  of  Charles  of 
Orleans,  209 

Marie  of  Guise-Lorraine,  wife  of  James 
V  of  Scotland,  219 

Marie  of  Medicis,  wife  of  Henry  IV, 
230 ;  her  escape  from  Blois,  62,  231 ; 
her  last  years,  239 
Marie  Stuart,  195,  275 
Marie  Tudor,  3d  wife  of  Louis  XII,  216 
Mayenne,  Charles,  Duke  of,  brother  of 
the  Duke  of  Guise,  220 
Medicis,  Alexander  de,  half-brother  of 
Catherine,  272 

Medicis,  Catherine  de,  see  Catherine 
Medicis,  Marie  de,  see  Marie 
Medicis,  Lorenzo  de,  272  , 

Medicis,  Pierro  de,  treaty  with  Charles  ( 
VIII,  181 

Mercogliano,  Passelo  de,  271 

Mesme,  Saint,  at  the  siege  of  Chinon, 

1 12 

Milan,  the  Duchy  of,  claim  of  Louis  XII 
to  the,  76 

Milicent,  daughter  of  Baldwin  II,  King 
of  Jerusalem,  162 
Milieu,  Chateau  de,  Chinon,  138 
Minimes  Convent,  Amboise,  175 
Molay,  Jacques  de,  Grand  Master  of 
the  Knights  Templar,  120 
Moliere  at  Chambord,  341 
Montbazon,  57 
Montcceur,  the  Duke  of,  285 
Montespan,  Mme.  de,  favorite  of  Louis 
XIV,  342 

Montgomery,  a  Scottish  knight,  acci¬ 
dentally  kills  Henry  II,  274 
Months,  or  Montilz-les-Tours,  Louis  XI 
builds  at,  42 

Montpensier,  Mile,  de,  her  marriage 
with  Gaston  of  Orleans,  286,  338 

Naples,  claim  of  the  House  of  Valois  to 
the  Kingdom- of,  178 
Napoleon,  Louis,  liberates  Emir  Abd-el- 
Kader  from  Amboise,  199 
Nemours,  the  Duchess  of,  mother  of 
Henry,  Duke  of  Guise,  225 
Nini,  an  Italian  artist  of  the  18th  cen¬ 
tury,  323 

Normandy,  conquest  of  by  Henry  V, 
125;  reconquered  by  Charles  VII,  101 

Odo  (Eudes)  II,  Count  of  Blois,  builds 
a  stone  bridge  over  the  Loire,  35 ; 

36 1 


builds  a  keep  at  Chaumont,  310;  de¬ 
feated  at  the  battle  of  Pontlevoi,  64; 
loses  Saumur,  67;  loses  Langeais,  149 
Orange  trees  first  seen  in  France,  187 
Orleans,  Charles  the  “Poet-Prince”  of, 
209;  taken  prisoner  at  Azincourt,  122, 
209 ;  marries  Mary  of  Cieves,  209 
Orleans,  Gaston,  Duke  of,  brother  of 
Louis  XIII,  338;  his  alterations  at 
Blois,  239;  gets  Amboise,  196;  gets 
Blois,  239 

Orleans,  Louis,  Duke  of,  murdered  by 
Jean  Sans  Peur,  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
206,  121 

Orleans,  the  Vicomte  de  (or  de  Gati- 
nais),  son-in-law  of  Fulk  Nerra,  68 
Orleans,  besieged  by  the  English,  129 
Orme,  Philibert  de  1’,  271 
Oubliettes,  81 

Pactius,  Thomas,  Prior  of  the  collegiate 
church  of  Loches,  96 
Pallissy,  Bernard,  50,  27s 
Pantagruel,  etc.,  Rabelais,  144 
Parliaments  held  at  Tours  under  Henry 
III  and  IV,  48 

Parma,  the  Duke  of,  present  joint  pro¬ 
prietor  of  Chambord,  349 
Passelo  da  Mercogliano,  187 
Pelouze,  M.,  buys  Chenonceaux,  287 
Philip  I  repudiates  his  wife  and  marries 
Bertrade  de  Montfort,  68 
Philip  II,  Augustus,  aids  Arthur  of  Brit¬ 
tany,  150;  obtains  Langeais,  150;  be¬ 
sieges  Loches  and  Chinon,  69,  70;  his 
campaign  of  1204-5,  119;  his  quarrel 
with  King  John,  69,  70;  and  Henry  II 
of  England,  115 

Philip  III,  the  Bold,  gives  Langeais  to 
Pierre  de  la  Broce,  150 
Philip  IV,  the  Handsome,  suppresses  the 
Order  of  Knights  Templars,  119;  his 
three  sons  die  without  heirs  male,  120 
Philip  VI,  of  Valois,  succeeds  to  the 
throne,  121 

Philip,  the  Handsome,  of  Austria,  at 
Blois,  214 

Pierrefonds,  the  oubliette  of,  81 
Plessis-Bourre,  or  du-Vent,  the  Chateau 
of,  152 

Plessis-les-Tours,  the  Chateau  of,  42 
Poitiers,  Diane  of,  Duchess  of  Valenti- 
nois,  267;  buys  ground  at  Amboise, 
187;  forced  to  give  up  Chenonceaux, 
322;  her  father’s  arrest  and  imprison¬ 
ment,  80 


INDEX 


Poitiers,  Jean  of,  Sieur  de  St.  Vallier, 
father  of  Diane  of,  272;  involved  in 
the  plot  of  the  Constable  de  Bourbon, 
80 

Pontbriand,  Governor  of  Loches,  85 
Portail  de  la  Crosse,  the,  Marmoutier,  32 
Port-Royal-des-Champs,  255 
Poulangey,  Bertrand  de,  escorts  Jeanne 
d’Arc  to  Chinon,  131 
Pourceaugnac,  first  produced  at  Cham- 
bord,  341 

Praguerie,  the,  102 

Primaticcio,  directs  the  fetes  at  Chenon- 
ceaux,  275 

Puy,  the  Bishop  of,  imprisoned  at  Loches, 
80 

Quentin  Durward,  43 

Rabelais  at  Chinon,  143 ;  his  house  at 
Langeais,  162;  his  statue  at  Chinon, 
137 

Raffin,  Antoine,  obtains  Azay-le-Rideau, 
300 

Raymond  du  Temple,  alters  the  Louvre 
for  Charles  V,  97 

“Reine  Blanche,”  the,  see  Louise  de 
Vaudemont 

Renaissance,  the  French,  16,  261,  305;  in 
Touraine,  43 

Renaudie  Conspiracy,  the,  188 
Revolution  of  July,  the,  346 
Richard  Cceur-de-Lion,  at  the  confer¬ 
ence  of  Bon  Moulins,  1 15 ;  at  the  con¬ 
ference  of  Colombiers,  117;  hears  of 
his  father’s  death,  118;  his  own  death, 
1 19;  re-takes  Loches,  69;  treaty  of 
marriage  with  infant  daughter  of 
Louis  VII,  1 15 

Richard  III,  of  England,  murder  of  his 
nephews,  156 

Richelieu,  Cardinal,  the  Conspiracy  of 
Cinq-Mars,  155;  is  given  Chinon,  145; 
the  reconciliation  between  Louis  Xill 
and  Marie  de  Medicis,  239 
Richemont,  the  Constable,  101,  102,  129, 
131,  142 

Rohan,  Anne  de,  wife  of  the  3d  Duke  of 
Luynes,  255 

Romans  driven  out  of  Gaul,  112 
Roye,  Eleanor  de,  wife  of  the  Prince  of 
Conde,  277,  278 

Rucellai,  Abbe  of  Ligny,  plans  the  es¬ 
cape  of  Marie  de  Medicis,  232 
Ruggieri,  astrologer  of  Catherine  de 
Medicis,  317 


St.  Jean  d’Acre,  the  fall  of,  119 
Sardini,  Scipion,  322 
Saumur,  captured  by  Fulk  Nerra,  67 
Savonarola,  entry  of  Charles  VIII  into 
Florence,  181 

Saxe,  Hermann  Maurice,  Marshal,  345 
Scottish  Guard,  the,  their  bedsteads  at 
Loches,  62;  the  murder  of  the  Duke 
of  Guise,  225 

Semblenqay,  Jacques  de  Beaune,  baron. 
Minister  of  Francis  I,  16,  263;  his 
downfall,  300 

Seven  Sleepers  of  Marmoutier,  the,  32 
Sforza,  Ludovico,  Duke  of  Milan,  called 
the  Moor,  76 

Siegfried,  M.,  owner  of  the  Chateau  of 
Langeais,  162 

Sorel,  Agnes,  98;  and  the  Dauphin,  142 
Sourdeau,  Jacques,  Master  of  Works  in 
the  County  of  Blois,  212 
Spirals  in  Nature  and  Art,  T.  A.  Cook, 
212 

Stael,  Mme.  de,  at  Chaumont,  323;  her 
work  on  Germany  suppressed,  324,  333 
Stael-Holstein,  Augustus,  baron  of,  323 
Blois,  Stephen,  death  of,  114 
Street  nomenclature  in  Tours,  15 
Strozzi,  Philip,  272 

Sulpice  II,  of  Amboise,  inherits  Chau¬ 
mont,  310 


Tangui  du  Chatel,  rescues  the  Dauphin 
from  Paris,  125 

Terry,  Mr.,  present  owner  of  Chenon- 
ceaux,  288 

Thibaud  le  Tricheur,  Count  of  Blois, 
310;  tries  to  marry  Eleanor  of  Aqui¬ 
taine,  1 14 

Thomas  Becket,  Archbishop  of  Canter¬ 
bury,  the  murder  of,  115 
Thou,  Augustus  de,  beheaded,  156 
Tomb  of  Agnes  Sorel,  at  Loches,  103 
Tomb  of  the  children  of  Charles  VIII 
and  Anne  of  Brittany,  22 
Toulouse,  the  Archbishop  of,  escape  of 
Marie  de  Medicis,  232 
Trinqueau,  Pierre  Nepveu,  called,  261, 
334 

Tristan,  l’Hermite,  so-called  house  of,  at 
Tours,  15 
Tour : 

Agnes  Sorel,  Loches,  98 
de  l’Archeveche,  Tours,  25 


362 


INDEX 


Cesar,  or  Heurtault,  Amboise,  175, 
178,  187 

Charlemagne,  Tours,  9,  10 
de  Guise,  Tours,  26;  escape  of  the 
Duke  of  Guise,  35 
de  1’Horloge,  10 
Martelet,  Loches,  70 
des  Minimes,  Amboise,  175,  178 
du  Moulin,  Blois,  205,  230,  243 
du  Moulin,  Chinon,  138 
Ronde,  or  Louis  XI,  Loches,  70 
St.  Antoine,  Loches,  107 
Tournelles,  Hotel  des,  Paris,  98 
Tours-a-bec,  Loches,  61 
Tours,  Council  of,  31 

Urban  II,  Pope,  31,  113 
Usse,  the  Chateau  of,  155 

Valentine  Visconti,  wife  of  Louis,  Duke 
of  Orleans,  76,  209 

Valliere,  Louise  de  la,  favorite  of  Louis 
XIV.  338 
Vaucouleurs,  130 


Vaugien,  Bertin  de,  alters  Chaumont,  322 
Venant,  manor  of  St.,  near  Luynes,  252 
Vendome,  Cesar,  Duke  of,  son  of  Henry 
IV,  285;  imprisoned  at  Amboise,  196 
Vendome,  the  Duke  of,  one  of  Louis 
XIVth’s  captains,  286 
Villeneuve,  Count  of,  inherits  Chenon- 
ceaux,  287 

Vinci,  Leonardo  da,  the  staircase  at 
Blois,  212;  his  tomb  at  Amboise,  176 
Viollet-Le-Duc,  the  Cathedral  of  Tours, 
21 ;  the  collegiate  church  at  Loches, 
96;  oubliettes  and  the  prisons  of  an¬ 
cient  France,  81 

Visigoths  come  under  Clovis’s  rule,  112 
Vitre,  Robert  de,  Langeais  is  given  to 
him  by  Arthur  of  Brittany,  150 


Walsh,  Edward,  4th  Earl,  327 
William  Longsword,  the  murder  of,  112 

Yolande  of  Arragon,  128,  142 


363 


